EC: ‘Boat’ symbol will be reserved, no one can use it

Staff Correspondent

After the Awami League’s party symbol ‘boat’, whose registration was suspended, was removed from the Election Commission (EC) website, Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said, “The boat symbol will be reserved in the schedule of the election conduct rules. However, no one else can use it.”

He made this announcement after an informal meeting of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners on Wednesday, July 16.

The EC secretary said, “Although the boat is in the symbol schedule, the Awami League’s symbol boat, whose registration has been suspended, has been removed from the website to avoid confusion. There is no pressure on the Election Commission. The EC felt it would be better to remove it.”

This morning, the registration date, symbol date and symbol boxes were found empty next to the name ‘Awami League (registration suspended)’ on the list of registered political parties on the EC website at number 6. Although these three boxes were filled earlier, the scales symbol was added to the website in the afternoon after the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami was reinstated.

The EC Secretary also said, “The boat symbol will remain in the schedule of symbols, no one else will be able to use it.”

Earlier, Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Machud had said that the symbol is never banned. Even if the party is dissolved, the symbol will remain with the EC; it will be allocated in the name of another person. The EC will not remove the symbol from the list.

In response to a question, Akhtar Ahmed said, “Shapla has not been included in the schedule yet.”

Earlier, last night, Local Government Advisor Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan criticized the EC in his verified Facebook post, writing, “On what grounds did you send the cursed ‘boat’ mark to the Law Ministry to be re-scheduled?”

It is worth noting that out of the 69 symbols currently listed by the EC, 50 are allocated to political parties. The remaining 19 symbols are reserved for independent candidates.

It is learned that if the new list is finalized, the number of symbols will increase to 115, which will also include the “scale” symbol of the war criminal party Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh.