Dhaka, Oct 10 (IANS) In an escalating political standoff in Bangladesh ahead of next year’s election, the National Citizen’s Party (NCP) has threatened to reject its registration if the Election Commission (EC) does not allocate the Shapla (water lily) as its electoral symbol, local media reported.
Addressing reporters, NCP Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary made the remarks after a two-hour meeting with Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin.
“If we are to be registered, it must be with the Shapla symbol. NCP will not be registered without Shapla, and we will not accept any registration without it,” Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star, quoted Patwary as saying.
Reiterating its call to allocate “Shapla” (Water Lily) as its electoral symbol, the NCP also demanded that the EC remove other national emblems, including the “Sheaf of Paddy” and the “Star”, from the list of election symbols if its request is not approved.
“The EC now faces two options — either cancel symbols like Dhan (paddy), Tara (star), and Sonali Aash (golden fibre) or allocate Shapla. We do not want the symbols of any fraternal political parties to be cancelled,” the NCP leader stated
Earlier this week, the NCP warned of far-reaching consequences that could seriously impact next year’s elections if it is denied the Shapla symbol.
The remarks followed the EC’s recent directive asking the NCP to choose its electoral symbol from a list of 50 options, which did not include the “Shapla” that the party had demanded, according to local media reports.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Patwary stated that the party will work towards forming an independent and constitutional EC through democratic means if its demand is not met.
“If the NCP does not get the Shapla symbol, it will definitely affect the election. Without an independent commission, there can be no fair polls. If the election is not fair, there will be bloodshed on the streets. But we will try to avoid that. If our backs are against the wall, we will have no choice but to resist,” said Patwary.
“If we are deprived of this right, we will work to form an independent and constitutional election commission democratically. We will not back down from achieving our demands and will continue our fight politically” he added.
Bangladesh is facing growing uncertainty and political turmoil ahead of next year’s election.
The student leaders had earlier collaborated with Muhammad Yunus and several other radical political parties to overthrow the democratically elected Awami League government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
–IANS
scor/as
