The election commission has reinstated the registration of Jatiya Ganatantrik Party with its electoral symbol ‘Hookah’ in line with a High Court order.
‘The Jatiya Ganatantrik Party’s registration with its party symbol (Registration No-036, ‘Hookah’ symbol, dated November 20, 2008) was reinstated cancelling its earlier notification that had revoked the party’s registration,’ said a notification, signed by EC senior secretary Akhtar Ahmed, on Sunday.
The commission had first awarded registration to JAGPA’s ahead of the 2008 national election.
However, on February 1, 2021, the then commission cancelled the party’s registration for its failure to comply with conditions under the Representation of the People Order.
Challenging the cancellation, JAGPA president Tasmina Prodhan filed a writ petition with the High Court later that year. In March 2025, the court handed down its order, directing the EC to reinstate the party’s registration.
JAGPA founding president Shafiul Alam Prodhan passed away on May 21, 2017, then its chairperson Rehana Prodhan died on October 22, 2018.
Later their daughter, Tasmina Prodhan, took over as the party’s acting president.
So far, 57 parties have obtained registration, but five of them—Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Freedom Party, Oikyabodha Nagorik Andolan, PDP and Jatiya Ganatantrik Party—later lost their status due to different grounds and court orders.
Jamaat has recently got back their registration following the court order. Now JAGPA got back its registration as well. Besides, the registration of Awami League remains suspended.
Recently, Bangladesh Republic Party officially received registration as a new political party with the ‘Elephant’ as its electoral symbol on October 26 and Bangladesh Labour Party on September 25 last, following two separate court directives.
The registration system for political parties was first introduced ahead of the 9th parliamentary election in 2008. Besides, the registration process for new parties is underway ahead of the 13th parliamentary election.
