'No one has been given a symbol outside of EC's list'
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin today said that the Election Commission (EC) has not yet made any decision regarding the National Citizen Party's (NCP) proposal to use "shapla" (water lily) as its election symbol.
The commission has no scope to go beyond its officially reserved list of election symbols.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Nasir Uddin added that NCP leaders are aware of the EC's limitations and expressed hope that they would not create any obstacles to the democratic process in the country.
The CEC made the remarks today after addressing a special meeting at the Chattogram Circuit House with deputy commissioners (DCs), senior law enforcement officials, and election-related officers from the Chattogram division.
When a party gets registered, it must choose its election symbol from the EC's list of reserved symbols. The symbol that the NCP has requested -- shapla (water lily) -- is not included in our current list, which is why we could not allocate it to them," the CEC said.
Replying a question about the possibility of adding the shapla symbol to the list, the CEC answered, "The rule is that parties must choose symbols from the EC's list. So far, no one has been given a symbol outside of the list. However, there is no bar to expanding it. The commission can increase or decrease the number of symbols whenever necessary. Our current number of symbols is 115 -- it wasn't that many before. We had to expand the list because we merged the national and local election systems."
"As for shapla, the commission has not yet made any decision to include it," he added.
The CEC said, "We want to ensure a transparent and fair election. We do not want an election held in the darkness of night."
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