Apart from Shapla, Doyel, election symbol list remains unchanged

As before, symbols like the boat, and rice grain, remain on the list alongside others such as apples, hookahs, and rockets

Ahead of the 13th parliamentary election, the Election Commission (EC) is increasing the number of electoral symbols from 69 to 115 to allocate them to contesting candidates.

As such, an amendment to the election conduct rules has been finalised and forwarded to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for vetting.

The EC secretariat is expected to issue a notification on the matter soon.

More than a hundred new political parties have applied for registration ahead of the upcoming election.

Generally, parties are allotted voting symbols from a list maintained by the commission. If a party is registered, the commission reserves a symbol on its behalf.

Controversial symbols Shapla (water lily) and Doyel (magpie robin) have been excluded from the updated list of voting markers.

“This time, about 115 voting symbols have been finalised,” Election Commissioner Abdur Rahmanel Masud said on Wednesday.

“The rules in this regard will go to the ministry. However, we have taken a policy decision not to keep the Shapla as a symbol.”

In 2008, a total of 140 symbols were allocated for the parliamentary elections. Since then, efforts were made to designate separate sets of symbols for parliamentary and local government elections.

When the parliamentary election rules were revised in 2017, the number of symbols was reduced by half.

At present, there are 69 symbols listed for use by both political parties and independent candidates in the national elections.

KM Ali Newaz, additional secretary of theEC, said on Wednesday that the proposed amendments to update the symbol list have been sent to the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division.

115 symbols include:

Apple, pineapple, mango, cupboard, eagle, ostrich, rising sun, one star, scissors, pigeon, pen, pitcher, banana bunch, jackfruit, cup and saucer, sickle, kettle, crocodile, computer, banana, axe, winnowing-fan, hut, spade, cot, palm tree, bullock cart, cow, towel, rose, bell, kite, horse, wheel, charger light, key, shrimp, chair, glasses, stick, umbrella, jug, ship, tubewell, tiffin carrier, table, table clock, truck, telephone, television, drums, drums, tabla, watermelon, stars, plates, scales, buildings, wall clocks, doyat pens, swings, rice ears, anchors, boats, butterflies, footballs, cauliflower, flower pots, flower garlands, refrigerators, goats, tigers, books, banyan trees, flutes, benches, eggplants, bicycles, buckets, balloons, electric fans, ladders, mugs, microphones, cars, torches, peacocks, fish, headstones, minarets, candles, mobile phones, blankets, roosters, rockets, rickshaws, gourds, litchis, plows, conch shells, golden scales, sewing machines, sofas, lions, suitcases, deer, paws, wristwatches, hand fans, ducks, elephants, hammers, hurricanes, hookahs, helicopter.