The final days of the DUCSU 2025 election saw a dramatic shift in online engagement, but a new analysis reveals that much of the visible momentum was a carefully constructed mirage. A report from SharedToday exposes a phenomenon called "auto-turfing"—the use of coordinated, repetitive campaign posts to create an illusion of widespread support. This practice has cluttered the digital view, making it difficult to distinguish genuine popularity from manufactured waves.
Detecting the Deception
Auto-turfing campaigns can be identified by several key markers, as outlined in the SharedToday report:
- Identical or near-identical posts shared by multiple accounts in short timeframes.
- Overuse of templated slogans and hashtags.
- High engagement spikes on content with low diversity.
Read more: DUCSU Election 2025: A Campaign’s Final Twist
The Turf-Inflated Race
Looking at the final 24 hours of raw engagement, the GS race was dominated by two candidates, with a shocking shift in momentum. Meghmallar of the Left Alliance suddenly took the lead, capturing 63.6% of engagement, while Shibir’s Farhad held 33.3%. Odhikar's Sabina, once a frontrunner, collapsed to just 2.1%.
However, this sudden surge was highly artificial. The Left's rise was almost entirely from organized amplification, with over 70% of Meghmallar’s last 24-hour engagement being turfing-driven. Similarly, Shibir’s late surge was powered by organized networks, with an estimated 60-65% of Farhad’s engagement being turfing-driven.
The Real Race: Organic Engagement Only
When the "turfing" is stripped away, the true state of the race becomes clear. A "clean" analysis of organic-only engagement provides a different picture of the election:
Organic VP Race (two-week trend):
- Umama (Independent): ~40%
- Abidul (JCD): ~36%
- Sadiq (Shibir): ~22%
- Others: <3%
Read more: DUCSU Election 2025: A Race of Fragile Alliances and Shifting Sentiments
This shows that without the turfing boost, the VP race is a much closer contest between Umama and Abidul, with Sadiq trailing.
