The Election Commission urged the National Citizen Party to choose an alternative election symbol from the approved list by October 19, warning that if the party failed to comply with the instruction, the commission would assign one on its own.
Speaking to reporters at the EC headquarters at Agargaon on Tuesday, EC senior secretary, Akhter Ahmed confirmed that a formal letter had been sent to the NCP regarding the matter.
The NCP has met the requirements for registration as a political party and initially requested the water lily as its electoral symbol.
However, as the water lily is not included in the list of approved symbols under the EC鈥檚 election regulations, the request was rejected.
Earlier, the EC had set the October 7 deadline for the NCP to choose from the approved list, but the party instead renewed its demand for the water lily symbol.
Asked about the EC鈥檚 final position, Akhter said that the NCP鈥檚 request for the water lily symbol could not be granted as it was not聽 on the official list, adding that the commission saw no need to include it in the list and its decision remained unchanged.
The secretary also said that the Election Commission was collecting further information, both through its secretariat and field inquiries, on 12 political parties seeking registration, and expected to determine their status next week.
Replying to a question, the EC secretary said that he could not comment on the proposed referendum, as the issue had not yet reached the commission鈥檚 final decision-making stage.
He explained that while the commission was responsible for managing the election process, any decision on holding a referendum would come from higher authorities, and it would be inappropriate to discuss unfinalised matters based on speculation.
Akhter also reaffirmed the EC鈥檚 commitment to regular engagement with stakeholders, saying that preparations for the upcoming elections were well under way, with several phases of the process already completed and others in progress.
He also said that the Election Commission was expanding its expatriate voter registration initiatives, with an app under development to facilitate enrolment expected to launch by late October or early November.
Voter registration is already under way in 11 countries, including the United States, where activities have begun in New York and Washington DC and are set to start in Miami and Los Angeles, he said.
Akhter Ahmed said that the commission had planned to send technical teams to Oman, South Africa, the Maldives, and Jordan.
Besides, it has received approval to expand voter registration to Bahrain, Singapore, France, and Spain, bringing the total number of countries to 19 for the expansion, he added.