Election symbols: Law ministry okays EC proposal to drop ‘weighing scale’

The Law Ministry has approved an Election Commission proposal to drop “weighing scale” from the list of election symbols reserved for parliamentary election candidates.

The changes, drawn in line with a court order, will be effective as soon as the Commission publishes gazette of the amended list. 

Law Minister Anisul Huq made the announcement while talking to reporters after inaugurating a training session at the Judicial Administration Training Institute in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The commission earlier decided to drop “weighing scale” off the list upon considering an administrative order of the Supreme Court but as part of the official formalities the EC needed a vetting from the Law Ministry.

“Election Commission has the authority to amend the list of symbols. We are okay with it,” said the minister.

EC Assistant Secretary Roushan Ara Begum said the number of election symbols will come down to 64 after discarding the “weighing scale”.

Election Commission opted to amend the election rules after a Supreme Court's full bench decided not to let any political party use weighing scale as its election symbol as it is the monogram of the court.

The apex court brought the issue to EC Secretariat on Dec 14 last year.

EC’s legal wing’s Joint Secretary Md Shahjahan said the symbol has not been in use since Jamaat-e-Islami’s registration as a political party was cancelled in 2013.

The party that opposed Bangladesh’s independence during 1971 Liberation War had used the symbol in previous elections.

The symbol was not allocated to any candidate during the tenth National Polls and the polls to city corporations, Upazila councils and union councils that followed.

Minister Anisul said: “What we can understand through people’s sentiment is that this political party (Jamaat) should not be allowed to use the symbol.”

“Therefore, we find the EC’s decision to be valid,” he said.