Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Secretary General Dr. Shafiqur Rahman has issued the following statement on 9th March, 2017 protesting the Election Commission’s recent move as they have published a gazette of the electoral symbols excluding Jamaat-e-Islami’s official electoral symbol ‘scale’ (Daripalla).

“The election commission’s decision of cancelling Jamaat’s electoral symbol ‘scale’ (Daripalla) is an undemocratic step.

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is a registered party under the election commission along with its electoral symbol of ‘scale’ (Daripalla). With this electoral symbol, Jamaat-e-Islami had taken part in almost all the national elections earlier. According of RPO-1972, the election commission allocates and preserves the electoral symbol of all political parties.

The case in line with the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami is sub-judice. The honourable court did not cancel the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami. So as per the RPO of 1972, Jamaat’s registration along with its electoral symbol is still valid. In this backdrop, the election commission’s decision of cancelling Jamaat’s electoral symbol is entirely mysterious. We are protesting the decision of the election commission and urging them to preserve ‘scale’ (Daripalla) as the electoral symbol of Jamaat-e-Islami.”