The National Citizen Party will not be allocated water lily as its electoral symbol, as the flower is not on the official electoral symbol list of the Election Commission, EC secretary Akhter Ahmed said on Tuesday.
鈥榃ater lily is not among our 115 approved symbols. According to the regulation, political parties must select their symbols from this list. Therefore, the NCP will have to propose an alternative,鈥� he told reporters at the EC headquarters at Agargaon.
The EC secretary said that the registration process for new political parties was still going on, with their documents currently under review.
鈥榃e have asked the NCP to submit alternative proposals. A final decision will be agreed between the EC and the party,鈥� he said.
The EC secretary also disclosed that the commission had received back the revised code of conduct document it had sent to the law ministry for vetting, along with the file concerning electoral symbols, which he described as one step forward in the registration process.
He said that amendments to the Representation of the People Order were linked to the code of conduct and were currently with the Legislative Division of the law ministry, adding that the commission expected to receive it very soon.
Meanwhile, NCP chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary accused the EC of being biased, claiming that there was no legal barrier to granting water lily as symbol to the NCP.
鈥榃e presented our arguments to the EC, but they could not provide any reasoning for refusing us the symbol. Why wasn鈥檛 it included in the list and what obstacle prevents it from being listed? They have not explained,鈥� he told 抖阴精品.
Nasiruddin alleged that the EC was failing to act independently, commenting that their party was being subjected to injustice.
He said that their struggle in this regard would continue, but that they would pursue their case using democratic means and avoid violence, while presenting their arguments before the nation.
Only a day earlier, after a meeting with chief election commissioner AMM Nasiruddin, the NCP leader told reporters that the NCP would accept no other symbol than water lily in any of its various forms.
The EC secretary on Tuesday also announced that the commission would hold a series of dialogues with July fighters, civil society representatives, educators, women leaders, journalists, political parties, and election experts from September 28, arranged in phases depending on religious festivals and public holidays.
He also said that progress was being made in expatriate voter registration.
