Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM) and Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP) have been registered with the Election Commission as new political parties.

The EC has decided to give registration to BNM and BSP and they will be certified soon, said Election Commission Additional Secretary Ashok Kumar Debnath.

Read: ‘Ban BNP-Jamaat politics’: Jubo League submits memorandum to ministries, Election Commission

With this, the number of political parties registered with the EC stands at 44. BNM's symbol will be Anchor while BSP's symbol will be Ektara, the statement said.

The EC asks for applications for new party registration before every parliamentary election.

BNM’s Member secretary of Central committee Major Md. Hanif said: “As we have fulfilled all the conditions required for registration, we were very confident that even if a party gets registered, we will get it," he said.

Read: Our only goal is to protect country from fascists: Fakhrul

He said BNM aims to establish a welfare state by creating a non-violent and healthy political environment.

The party convenor said they have no statement against any party and will be working for the people, for the country, for democracy and against terrorism, corruption, violence.

This year, a total of 196 new parties sought registration. Of those, 12 parties fulfilled the conditions in the preliminary selection.

Read: BNP, like-minded parties set to hold mass processions in city 

Upon further scrutiny, AB Party (Amar Bangladesh Party), Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM), Gono Odhikar Parishad and Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP) proved their competencies in the investigation.

Later, Gono Odhikar Parishad and AB Party were dropped after the final investigation by the next high-level committee.