Staff Reporter:
The Election Commission (EC) Secretariat Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed yesterday said that they have no scope to allocate Shapla (water lily) electoral symbol to the National Citizen Party (NCP), as it does not exist in the Commission’s official list of registered symbols.
Speaking to reporters in front of his office at the EC Building in the capital’s Agargaon, he said the Shapla symbol is not included in the list of 115 registered symbols. “As per the rules, a political party must select its symbol from the reserved list. If Shapla is not in the list, where is the scope to allocate it,” he explained.
Akhtar Ahmed added, “The Shapla symbol is not in the official list. Now, they (NCP) will have to sub-mit an alternative proposal. We will wait for that and inform them accordingly.”
He continued, “They (NCP) know that it (Shapla) is not available. The matter will be resolved with mu-tual consent.”
Earlier, on Monday afternoon, NCP Chief Coordinator Nasir Uddin Patowary told reporters after meet-ing the Chief Election Commissioner that they discussed registration, electoral symbols, and expatriate voting. “The EC has positively decided that NCP will get registration,” he said.
He went on, saying, “We stand by Shapla, and NCP is determined to retain Shapla.”
He further said that regarding the electoral symbol, they proposed three options: Shapla, White Shapla, or Red Shapla, and they will not deviate from these.
