National Citizen Party-NCP on Sunday alleged that the Election Commission (EC) is making an ‘arbitrary decision’ by denying the party its desired electoral symbol ‘Water Lily’.
“We’ve seen that the Election Commission is taking an arbitrary decision,” said NCP chief organiser for the southern region Hasnat Abdullah while talking to reporters after a meeting between an NCP delegation and EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city.
Hasnat said the Commission could not provide any legal explanation for refusing to allocate the ‘Water Lily’ symbol, adding that the party has no alternative choice for its symbol.
"About the activities of the Election Commission, we have been saying from the very beginning that it seems like an institutional autocracy is being created," he said.
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Over the EC schedule on the list of symbols, the NCP leader said there is no clear policy explaining how the symbols are included in the schedule. Secondly, there is no policy explaining why ‘Water Lily’ wouldn't be included in the list. Thirdly, there is no clear guideline on how political parties have been allocated symbols over different periods, he added.
Hasnat said the Commission’s behaviour reflects a resemblance to ‘medieval monarchs’.
“We have repeatedly told them that the Election Commission is a constitutional body. This institution must operate on a legal and policy-based framework,” he said.
Hasnat alleged that the EC’s recent decisions seem to be “imposed from elsewhere.”
“It has become clear to us through our discussions with them that the decisions are being imposed on them….I’ve said before — the remote control of this Election Commission is not in Agargaon. It’s being operated from somewhere else,” he added.
“Whenever we talk to them, it seems like this decision is not theirs to make. This decision is imposed on them and they are actually forced to make this decision,” said the NCP leader.
Earlier on September 30, the EC sent a letter to NCP attaching a list of 50 reserved symbols, asking it to pick one from the list instead of its desired ‘Water Lily’ symbol by October 7.
In reply, the NCP again requested the EC to allocate the ‘Water Lily’ as its symbol and sent several designs of the desired emblem — ‘Water Lily’, ‘Red Water Lily’ and ‘White Water Lily’.
On October 9, a three-member NCP delegation, led by its Chief Coordinator Nasir Uddin Patwary, met Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin and reiterated their demand for the ‘Water Lily’ symbol.
After the meeting, Patwary told reporters that NCP would not accept registration without the ‘Water Lily’. “We’ve made it clear that NCP will not receive registration without the Water Lily symbol. We’ll wait for a month,” he said.
Bangladesh Congress on Monday last asked the EC to allocate the ‘Water Lily’ symbol to the party if it is included in the list of electoral symbols as it was denied the symbol during its registration six years ago.
On September 25 last, Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin told reporters that Nagorik Oikya, led by Mahmudur Rahman Manna, first applied for the ‘water lily’ symbol and then NCP applied for the same symbol.
Manna said they will protest if the EC allocates ‘Water Lily’ to NCP, but they won’t go to the court challenging the EC’s decision.