Awami League’s ‘boat’ symbol returns to EC website

The Awami League’s ‘boat’ symbol has been returned to the Election Commission (EC) website. On Thursday (July 17), it was seen on the EC website that a boat has been placed as a symbol next to the name Awami League (registration suspended). Earlier, on Wednesday (July 16) morning, the ‘boat’ symbol of the Bangladesh Awami League, whose registration was suspended, was removed from the EC website. In this regard, EC Secretariat’s System Manager Md. Rafiqul Haque said that the boat symbol was removed on the instructions of higher authorities. However, the Election Commission Secretariat said in this regard that no new decision has been made regarding the boat symbol. The Commission has the previous decision. That is, if the Awami League is dissolved as a party, then the Commission will remove the boat symbol from the schedule. However, if the registration of a political party is suspended or cancelled, the EC can remove it from the website. That can happen. Earlier, on Tuesday night (July 15), Local Government Advisor Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan criticized the EC in a Facebook post and asked, “On what basis did you send the cursed ‘Nauka’ mark to the Law Ministry to be re-scheduled?” He wrote, “As a constitutional institution, you showed the thumbs up to this mass uprising. Whose agenda did you leave this mark to implement and to whom? On August 5, 2024, the mass uprising of students and the public ended the 15-year rule of the Awami League. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and took refuge in India. Later, on May 12, the government officially banned the political activities of the Awami League and all its organs and affiliates. After that, the Election Commission also suspended the party’s registration.