The DUCSU election was held yesterday in a festive environment. The panel supported by Islami Chhatra Shibir won 23 out of 28 posts including the top 3 positions. The voting turnout in the election was 31,234 which is 78.33% of the total voters.

Amid the voting yesterday afternoon, The Dissent published a survey based on the opinion of the DU students. After the student organizations announced their candidacies and panels in the DUCSU election, the survey was conducted among student voters between 28 August 2025 and 4 September. We did an analysis on how much the survey-result was reflected in yesterday’s vote.

By analyzing the data published this morning by the Dhaka University authorities, it has been observed that the results of The Dissent’s survey have been significantly reflected in the actual results of the vote.

In The Dissent’s servey result, it was observed that Shibir’s candidates for the 3 positions of VP, GS, and AGS were leading by a wide margin over their nearest competitors. The same has happened in the actual vote.

However, in the final vote, the vote share of Shibir’s 3 top candidates increased. In each position, a significant number of voters had stated during the survey that they were ‘undecided.’

VP Position

In the survey, 29.6% of students stated that they would vote for Oikyoboddho Shikkharthi Jote’s VP candidate Shadik Kayem. And in this position, 16.4% of participants were undecided.

In the casting votes of the election, Shadik received 44.95%.

For the same position, 14.3% of students supported VP candidate Abidul Islam Khan of the Chatro dal panel in the survey. In the actual vote, he received 18.27%.

19.4% of students supported independent candidate Shamim Hossain in the survey. In actual vote, he received 12.27%.

Swatantra Shikkharthi Oikya’s Umama Fatema received 12.2% in the survey. On the voting day, she got 10.85%. In addition, candidate Abdul Kader of the Boishommya-birodhi Shikkharthi Sangsad panel had 3.5% in the survey, which remained exactly the same in the actual vote.

After the collection of data for The Dissent’s survey, political controversy arose around prominent candidate Shamim Hossain, and significant negative campaigning against him appeared in some media outlets and social media, which may have negatively impacted his received votes. At the same time, undecided voters and the negative campaign against Shamim may have played a role in the increase of Sadiq Kayem’s vote count.

GS Position

In the survey, 25.3% of participating students stated they wanted to see Oikyoboddho Shikkharthi Jote’s GS candidate S M Forhad win. In the actual vote, he received 34.56%.

For the GS position, 25.4% of students stated by 4 September that they had not yet decided whom to vote for.

In the same position, Chatro dal–supported panel’s GS candidate Tanvir Bari Hamim had the support of 16.1% students in the survey. In the actual vote, he achieved 16.9%.

For the joint panel of seven left student organizations, Protirodh Porshad’s Meghmallar Basu received 16.9% support in the survey. In the actual vote, he received 15.8%.

Candidate Abu Bakar Majumdar of the Boishommya-birodhi Shikkharthi Sangsad panel had 7.3% support in the survey. In the actual vote, he received 6.8%.

The failure to show independent candidate Arafat Chowdhury’s name or his level of support was a shortcoming of The Dissent’s survey. Not every candidates’ names were included in options due to the list becoming too long. In such cases, a few names highlighted more in the media and social media during the survey period were given as options, while the rest were kept under ‘others.’ Since Arafat Chowdhury’s name was not much highlighted in media or social media during the survey period, his name was not kept separately in the options. Thus, his votes were not separately reflected in the survey. In the survey, a total of 9.1% of students’ votes went to the ‘others’ category.

In the actual vote, Arafat Chowdhury received 12.9% of the votes.

During  The Dissent’s survey, there was also a candidate Mahin Sarker for the GS position. He received 3.8% support. But later he withdrew his candidacy. This issue, along with the 25.4% undecided students, may have influenced the increase or decrease of votes for other candidates.

AGS Position

For the Assistant General Secretary (AGS) position,Oikyoboddho Shikkharthi Jote’s candidate Muhammad Mohiuddin Khan received support from about 25.7% of participants in the survey. In the actual vote, he received 37.69%.

For the AGS position, 32.5% of students stated they had not decided whom to vote for.

 Chatro dal–supported panel’s Tanvir Al Hadi Mayed received 17.1% in the survey and 16.21% in the actual vote.

Candidate Ashrefa Khatun of the Boishommya-birodhi Shikkharthi Sangsad panel received 6.1% in the survey and 2.8% in the actual vote.

Protirodh Porshad’s Jabir Ahmed Jubel received 6% in the survey and 3.6% in the actual vote.

Independent candidate Tahmid Al Mudassir received 7.3% in the survey. In the actual vote, he received 9.6%.

The increase of about 12% votes for Mohiuddin khan may have been related to the votes of undecided students.