EC mulls cancellation of ‘daripalla’ as polls symbol

Staff Correspondent: The Election Commission (EC) is considering cancellation of “daripalla” (weighing scale) from the list of EC`s election symbols.

Secretary of Election Commission (EC) Secretariat Mohammad Abdullah made the assertion while talking to reporters at his office at the EC Secretariat in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Wednesday afternoon.

We have received a letter signed by the registrar of the High Court division of the Supreme Court asking the EC to cancel the allocation of “daripalla” if it has already been allocated to any political party, he told reporters.

Now the matter will be tabled before the commission, he added.

According to the letter, it is unacceptable and unwanted if “daripalla” is used as a symbol of any other person or organisation or any political party.

Confusion might be created among people if “daripalla” is used as the symbol of any institution or any political party, it added.

Asked about the cancellation of “daripalla”, Abdullah said it will be decided in a commission meeting. But the EC in this regard will follow the court order.

The Supreme Court had a full court meeting on December 12 and decided to request the Election Commission not to allocate the weighing scale to any political party as the election symbol.

The weighing scale was earlier allocated to Jamaat-e-Islami. The party lost the right to contest parliamentary elections after the High Court declared its registration with the EC illegal.

risingbd/Dhaka/Dec 14, 2016/Mithun/Amirul