Bangladesh Congress has asked the Election Commission (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.
Amid the National Citizen Party-NCP’s strong demand to have ‘Water Lily’ allocated as its electoral symbol, Bangladesh Congress on Monday placed the demand in a letter submitted before the Election Commission, addressing the Chief Election Commissioner. Necessary documents supporting its claims were also attached to the letter.
“In recent times, several political parties have demanded the ‘Water Lily’ as their electoral symbol. In this context, if the national emblem of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh — the Water Lily — is allowed as a party symbol, Bangladesh Congress should be recognised as the first claimant and given priority,” the party said in the letter.
“So, we are appealing to the EC to allocate the ‘Water Lily’ to Bangladesh Congress, replacing our current ‘Coconut’ symbol, if Water Lily is finally allocated,” it added.
Since its establishment in 2013, Bangladesh Congress has been using the ‘Water Lily’ as its party symbol in all documents and then sought it to be allocated for the party during its registration application in 2017, but the Election Commission told it that the ‘Water Lily’ is the national emblem that can’t be a party symbol.
Later, when the registration of Bangladesh Congress was granted (in 2019) in line with the judgment of the Supreme Court, the party demanded the 'Book' as symbol, but Bangladesh Congress was forced to accept the 'Green Coconut’ as symbol as it was in the list of symbols, the letter reads.
CEC hopes NCP won’t hinder democratic transition over ‘Water Lily’ row
Secretary General of Bangladesh Congress Md Yarul Islam told UNB that his party had first claimed ‘Water Lily’ in 2017. “If the ‘Water Lily’ is allocated, Bangladesh Congress must be given priority,” he said.
Earlier on October 02 last, the EC sent a letter to NCP attaching a list of 50 electoral symbols to ask the party to pick one from the list instead of its desired ‘Water Lily’ symbol within October 7.
In response, the NCP mailed a letter to the EC Secretary, asking again to allocate ‘Water Lily’ as its symbol. The party also sent several designs of their desired symbol – Water Lily, Red Water Lily or White Water Lily.
On October 9, a three-member NCP delegation, led by its Chief Coordinator Nasir Uddin Patwary met the CEC to reiterate its call to the Election Commission to allocate ‘Water Lily’ as its electoral symbol.
After the meeting, Partwary even told reporters that NCP will not accept registration from the Election Commission without the ‘Water Lily’ symbol. “We’ve made it clear that NCP will not receive registration without the Water Lily symbol. We’ll wait for a month,” he said.
NCP pushes for ‘Water Lily’, demands removal of other national emblems
The NCP Chief Coordinator said they believe there is no legal barrier to include Water Lily in the list of electoral symbols, adding that there is the hand of an “invisible force” that obstructs the process.
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.