Rashed Khan Reveals the Strategy by Which His Faction Won the DUCSU Election

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News Desk: The Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL)-backed panel had long prepared and strategized for the Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (DUCSU) elections. The impact of this planning was evident in the way the panel was formed and campaigned. Commenting on their victory through various strategies, Rashed Khan, General Secretary of the Gonadhikar Parishad, stated that the panel’s long-standing engagement with students played a key role in their success.

Rashed Khan said, “In the 2019 DUCSU elections, I contested as a GS candidate and, along with the VP and other GS candidates, we won 11 posts, although only the VP and Social Service Secretary were officially declared winners. Regardless, I have firsthand experience observing elections. The 2019 election was extremely flawed. In the current election, while there were some violations of the code of conduct, there was no vote rigging.”

According to him, the panel’s strategy for victory was built over a long period. “During the era of fascism, the Chhatra Dal occasionally managed to enter the campus, but the Chhatra Shibir was completely absent, almost banned in terms of campus politics. In that situation, they employed various strategies—some candidates maintained relationships with general students, others leveraged positions in the Chhatra League or journalist associations. This gave their VP and GS candidates strong connections with students in the halls, which the Chhatra Dal candidates could not match.”

Rashed Khan added that despite limited preparation time, Chhatra Dal performed relatively well in this election.

Discussing Chhatra Shibir’s diverse strategies that led to their victory, he said, “Their candidates were able to stay in the halls and maintain connections with general students. I don’t view this negatively; it may have been part of their strategy or a response to fear and uncertainty, but it worked in their favor. Secondly, while the Chhatra Dal presented a panel focused only on themselves, Chhatra Shibir’s panel was more inclusive, incorporating general students, indigenous students, minority groups, and even students with disabilities. This created a unified panel. Another notable strategy was positioning a female candidate between the VP and GS candidates. This changed the perception of female students towards Chhatra Shibir, challenging the previous image they had of the group.”