The Election Commission has reserved “Shapla Koli” as one the electoral symbols, which will later be allocated to political parties contesting in the upcoming 13th national polls.
The commission issued a gazette in this regard on Thursday, bringing an amendment to the Conduct of Election Rules, 2008.
The list contains 119 electoral symbols, but the ‘Boat’ symbol has been suspended.
Earlier, NCP leaders had threatened to initiate a movement demanding the reconstitution of the EC, accusing the EC of acting with bias by refusing to allocate the party’s preferred “shapla” symbol.
This came after weeks of back-and-forth between NCP and the EC, with the latter stating in no uncertain terms that the symbol could not be allotted under the constitution.
When asked by journalists at the time, Election Commission Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed had stated that the Election Commission’s (EC) position regarding the “shapla” symbol issue remains unchanged and was “final”.
