Dhaka: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's student front Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) swept the Jahangirnagar University (JU) central students' union elections on Saturday, less than a week after its triumph in the Dhaka University polls.

According to the official announcement, ICS secured 20 of the 25 posts in the JU Central Students' Union (JUCSU) elections, despite being virtually banned on the campus for nearly 35 years.

Former prime minister Khaleda Zia's BNP-backed student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), which had emerged as a major force in the absence of the now-disbanded Awami League, failed to win a single seat. The Students Against Discrimination (SAD), the platform that spearheaded the anti-Hasina movement last year, won only two posts.

The top elected post of vice president went to Abdur Rashid Zitu of Swatantra Shikkharthi Sammilon, a newly formed group. Zitu, a former leader of the banned Awami League's Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) who later joined SAD, secured 3,332 votes, defeating ICS candidate Arifullah Adib.

The JU statute reserves the president's post of the union for the vice chancellor.

ICS revived its JU committee in October 2024 for the first time since 1989, when student groups banned it following the killing of a JCD activist.

Earlier this week, ICS won nine of 12 posts in the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) elections, a development that surprised many as the group traditionally had stronger support at Rajshahi University.

Bangladesh is scheduled to hold general elections in February next year under the interim government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.