NCP asked to choose new symbol by Oct 7 as EC rejects ‘Shapla’

The party’s chief coordinator criticises the alternative symbols on offer, calling them “ridiculous and outdated”

The Election Commission has asked the National Citizen Party to select an election symbol by Oct 7, saying the party’s preferred logo “Shapla”, water lily, is not on the approved list.

On Tuesday, EC Secretary Akhtar Ahmed announced the decisions on new party registrations and sent a letter to the NCP the same day.

The letter said the party’s application was found eligible for consideration, and it had proposed Shapla, pen and mobile phone as its choices of electoral symbols in order of preference.

But under the Conduct of Election Rules, 2008, Shapla is not included in the official list of symbols.

Therefore, the commission asked the NCP to select an available symbol from the approved list and inform the EC in writing by Oct 7.

Reacting to the letter, NCP’s chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary alleged that the commission was acting “arbitrarily and unconstitutionally.”

“There was no legal bar to giving us the Shapla symbol, yet the EC has dismissed our request,” he said.

Nasiruddin criticised the alternative symbols offered, such as “cupboard, ostrich, cup and saucer, and dish and bowl,” calling them “ridiculous and outdated”.

He accused the commission of bias, saying: “The national emblem contains stars, which is also JSD’s symbol. If the EC cannot recognise this, then they should be declared blind.”

“The commission has now openly taken sides.”