The Awami League’s electoral boat symbol will not appear on postal ballots for the 13th parliamentary election, as the party’s registration remains suspended.

Speaking at the Election Commission on Tuesday, EC Secretary Abdur Rahmanel Mashud said, “No symbol of a banned or suspended party will be included on the final postal ballot.”

Since 2008, political parties have been required to be registered to contest in parliamentary elections. To date, 59 parties have received registration. 

Among these, the Awami League’s registration is currently suspended, while the registrations of the Freedom Party (symbol: Machete), United Citizens’ Movement (symbol: Key) and PDP (symbol: Tiger) have been cancelled.

Regarding the symbols of deregistered parties, Mashud clarified, “Symbols of parties whose registration has been cancelled remain under the EC’s jurisdiction, so there is no restriction on including these symbols in postal ballots.”

For this election, a total of 118 symbols have been finalised. Since postal ballots must be sent out in advance, all these symbols will be included on the postal ballot papers.

EC officials noted that general ballot papers for parliamentary elections display the names of constituency-based party candidates as well as independent candidates along with their symbols. 

However, postal ballots will only feature the symbols. Voters will need to mark a tick or cross against the symbol corresponding to their preferred candidate, which can be verified via the relevant app or website.