Hasnat Abdullah, National Citizen Party’s (NCP) southern region chief organiser, has warned that the party will not accept any symbol other than ‘Shapla.’
He stated, “We have no alternative to ‘Shapla.’ The Election Commission (EC) has failed to provide any legal explanation for not allotting ‘Shapla.‘ It seems that the EC has turned into institutional dictatorship.”
Hasnat made these comments at a press conference after a meeting with EC’s Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed at its headquarters in Dhaka’s Agargaon on Sunday.
He further accused, “The EC’s remote control is no longer in Agargaon. The decisions they are making are being imposed on us.”
He claimed, “If this continues, a fair, impartial, and participatory election will not be possible with this commission.”
The NCP leader accused the EC of acting like medieval kings, protecting personal interests.
Referring to the EC as ‘spineless,’ Hasnat said, “The public has no trust in this commission. We will not accept any symbol other than ‘Shapla.'”
Sunday was the last day for symbol selection according to the EC’s regulations. The EC had sent a letter to the NCP to select one symbol from a list of 50.
However, the NCP stated that they had submitted seven samples of the ‘Shapla’ symbol and that no other symbol would be acceptable.
Meanwhile, the EC stated that if the symbol was not selected within the stipulated time, it would allocate a symbol at its discretion, and the party would have to contest the national elections with that symbol.
