Staff Reporter:
The Election Commission (EC) has sent a letter to the National Citizen Party (NCP) asking it to choose an electoral symbol from a reserved list of 50 options.
The NCP has been asked to inform the commission of its decision in writing by 7 October, according to the letter issued on 30 September.
EC Deputy Secretary of the election assistance branch, Md Rafiqul Islam, sent the letter to NCP convener Nahid Islam the same day.
In the letter, the EC said that the NCP had applied for registration mentioning water lily, pen and mobile phone as its preferred symbols in order of choice. The party later modified “shapla” to “laal shapla” (red water lily) or “shada shapla” (white water lily).
However, the EC stated that, under Rule 9(1) of the Election Conduct Rules, 2008, the water lily is not included in the list of symbols that can be allocated to candidates.
The EC further clarified, citing the Representation of the People Order (RPO) and the Election Conduct Rules, that a political party is allotted one of the prescribed symbols for all its nominated candidates, and that symbol remains reserved for the party unless it later opts for a different one from the approved list.
On 24 September, the commission published a gazette increasing the number of electoral symbols from 69 to 115 for registered parties and independent candidates in the 13th parliamentary election.
