The Election Commission (EC) has again written to the National Citizen Party (NCP) to choose any one from the 50 electoral symbols other than the 'Shapla' symbol by October 19.
"We have sent a letter to them (NCP) asking them to inform us of their desired symbol by October 19. If they do not inform us by October 19, the Election Commission will take a decision on the symbol at its own discretion," said EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city on Tuesday.
The EC Secretary said the NCP’s desired symbol is ‘Water Lily’. “But the Election Commission's stance on this matter is that since it is not in the Election Commission's rules, there is no scope for it to be given.”
Replying to a question if there is any legal barrier to incorporate ‘Water Lily’ in the symbol list, he said the commission thinks there is no need to include the Water Lily.
When asked under which law and under what reasoning Shapla is not being included, the EC secretary did not give a direct answer. He said, "The law is needed based on the environment, situation and necessity."
Earlier on September 30, the EC sent a letter to NCP attaching a list of 50 reserved symbols, asking it to pick one from the list instead of its desired ‘Water Lily’ symbol by October 7.
In reply, the NCP again requested the EC to allocate the ‘Water Lily’ as its symbol and sent several designs of the desired emblem — ‘Water Lily’, ‘Red Water Lily’, and ‘White Water Lily’.
On October 9, a three-member NCP delegation, led by its Chief Coordinator Nasir Uddin Patwary, met Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin and reiterated their demand for the ‘Water Lily’ symbol.
After the meeting, Patwary told reporters that NCP would not accept registration without the ‘Water Lily’. “We’ve made it clear that NCP will not receive registration without the Water Lily symbol. We’ll wait for a month,” he said.
MSH
