Social media smear campaigns, primarily targeting female candidates, have overshadowed excitement surrounding the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) election scheduled for September 9, reports UNB.
Some male candidates have also complained about being targeted in similar smear campaigns.
This is not an isolated issue in the DUCSU election. Candidates in student council elections at other public universities are facing similar challenges as well. They are being tagged, body-shamed, bullied, and subjected to rumours, offensive remarks, hate speech, and relentless propaganda.
Cyberattacks have also been reported on the candidate's personal profiles and organizational pages.
"Rivals' supporters are leading the contemptuous campaign," said Jeysan Bakul Ria (Jerry), an independent candidate vying for the position of Common Room, Reading Room, and Cafeteria Secretary.
Ria recalled social media barrages unleashed on her with endless abusive remarks in comment sections and defamatory remarks sent privately. The abusers left nothing untouched, she explained, noting that they even commented on her clothes and the length of her hair.
The abusers even labeled her a leftist because of her short hair.
"We need to maintain respect. We must not abandon our sense of courtesy and decency," she said.
The harassment, in fact, began as soon as she announced her intention to run in the election with a troubled past. Elections to university student councils have often been irregular due to issues stemming from lack of tolerance.
Public universities have long struggled to foster a democratic atmosphere due to widespread politicisation of teachers, officers, employees and spaces meant to be used by students. The student wings of ruling parties have dominated university campuses, leaving no one untouched by extortion and controlling everything from small shops to large dormitories.
However, the situation changed almost overnight last year when students led an uprising that ousted the immediate past regime of the Awami League.
Universities wore a festive look soon after dates for student council elections were announced. Some of them did not see such an election in decades. For instance, Jahangirnagar University last held the JUCSU election in 1992.
Maisha Maliha, who is contesting for the position of vice-president in the council of Kobi Sufia Kamal Hall, described the campaign as a tool to suppress women.
Character assassination, body shaming, bullying are the crime that women of this country have long fought against, she said.
"We have reached this position after battled such nuisances throughout our lives," said Maisha.
Women who do not wear hijab are labeled as 'Shahbaghi.'
A total of 462 candidates are primarily selected for this year's DUCSU election by the election commission. Of the candidates, 60 are women.
Of the nine announced panels, five are led by women. Two women are vying for vice-president (VP), one for general secretary (GS), and two for assistant general secretary (AGS).
Additionally, several others are contesting secretarial and member posts.
Umama Fatema, the first to announce her candidacy and former spokesperson of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, said she has been at the center of a storm of rumors. One viral claim alleged she sought to ban all political activity in Sufia Kamal Hall except leftist politics.
"This is false. In our official statement submitted to the provost, we clearly wrote that all politics-left, right, and Islamic-should be prohibited in the hall premises," Fatema said.
She also alleged that parts of her statement were distorted in different media outlets.
Alongside misinformation, Umama has been subjected to offensive posts and body-shaming comments online.
"Women are always an easy target - inside or outside politics. They are enduring continuous propaganda, cyberbullying, and offensive tagging," said Sadekur Rahman Sunny, who is participating in the DUCSU election from the panel called Swatantro Shikkarti Oikya' (Independent Student Unity).
VP candidate Md Abu Shadik (Kayem) from Shibir's panel in a Facebook post claimed that their four female candidates are also facing cyber harassment.
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