Election Commission drops boat symbol from postal voting

As many as 118 symbols have been finalised this time

The boat symbol of the Awami League, whose registration remains suspended, will not appear on postal ballots for those voting by mail in the parliamentary election.

At the Election Building on Tuesday, Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said: "The final postal ballot will not include the symbol of any banned or suspended party."

Registration of political parties to contest general elections was made mandatory in 2008. Since then, 59 parties have been registered.

Among them, the registration of the Awami League is suspended and the registration of the Freedom Party (Axe), Oikoboddho Nagorik Andolon (Key), and PDP (Tiger) have been cancelled.

Referring to the symbols of the parties that have had their registration cancelled, Rahmanel said: "The symbols of the parties whose registration has been cancelled are under the EC's control. Therefore, there is no restriction on keeping these symbols on the postal ballot."

This time, 118 symbols have been finalised for the 13th parliamentary election. Since postal ballots need to be sent out before the vote, all symbols will be included on them.

EC officials said that for the parliamentary election, the ballot paper includes the names and symbols of the parties and independent candidates for each constituency.

The postal ballot, however, will only have the symbols. Voters will need to check/cross the symbol after viewing the candidates for the relevant constituency on an app or website.