The National Citizen Party (NCP) has decided to contest the upcoming 13th National Election with the ‘Shapla Kali’ (water lily bud) symbol, ending weeks of speculation over its electoral emblem.

The decision was announced by NCP’s Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary following a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin at the Election Commission on Sunday afternoon.

We had applied for three symbols — ‘Shapla’, ‘Shada Shapla’, and ‘Shapla Kali’. Considering the overall situation, we’ve chosen ‘Shapla Kali’,” Patwary told reporters after the meeting. “In the next election, there will be a tough battle between ‘Dhaner Shish’ and ‘Shapla Kali’,” he added.

On alliance matters, Patwary said the NCP plans to field candidates in all 300 constituencies in the forthcoming polls.

The NCP will not join hands with BNP’s extortion and terrorism or Jamaat-e-Islami’s religious fascism,” he said. “If these two parties change their stance, the NCP may consider forming an alliance.”

Regarding the referendum issue, Patwary said the party has no objection if the referendum and the national election are held on the same day or if the referendum precedes the polls.

The NCP delegation, led by Patwary, included Joint Member Secretary Zahirul Islam Musa and Joint Convener Khaled Saifullah.

Party sources said the meeting’s primary agenda was to request the inclusion of the ‘Shapla’ symbol in the official list of election symbols, as the NCP has long demanded the flower symbol for its political identity.

Earlier on Thursday, the Election Commission published a gazette signed by its Secretary Akhtar Ahmed, listing new symbols for registered parties and independent candidates. The updated list included ‘Shapla Kali’ but excluded the NCP’s requested ‘Shapla’ symbol.

During its registration application in June, the NCP had proposed three symbols — ‘Shapla’, ‘Pen’, and ‘Mobile Phone’. Later, the party dropped the other two and focused solely on ‘Shapla’.

In July, due to a shortage of reserved symbols, the Election Commission added 46 new ones, bringing the total to 115 and sending the list to the Law Ministry. However, as the ‘Shapla’ symbol was not among them, the NCP took a firm stance and continued pressing its demand.