No symbols on postal ballots after 8 Feb: EC

The Election Commission has decided that no new candidate names or symbols will be added to postal ballots if a candidate is reinstated after 8 February, citing time constraints ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election and referendum scheduled for 12 February.

EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed disclosed the decision on Thursday (29 January).

According to the commission, although the final date for withdrawal of candidacy was 20 January, following scrutiny and appeals, several candidates later regained their candidacy through court orders. As of now, there are 2,017 contesting candidates across the country's 300 constituencies.

The addition of candidates at a late stage created complications for postal ballots in several constituencies, prompting the commission to review the issue at a meeting today.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Akhtar Ahmed said the commission had to define a "relevant time" to determine until when candidates could be included in postal ballots.

"The commission has decided that if the court reinstates a candidate's nomination up to 8 February, their name and symbol can be considered for inclusion in postal ballots," he said.

However, he clarified that if a candidate is reinstated after 8 February, postal voting will not apply to that candidate as there would not be sufficient time to print, dispatch and receive the ballots through returning officers.

"8 February is the cut-off date linked to the minimum logistical time required," the EC secretary added.

For the upcoming election and referendum, a total of 15,33,682 voters at home and abroad have registered for postal voting. Registration ended on 5 January via an app-based system.

Of the registered postal voters, 7,72,542 applied from abroad under the Out of Country Voting (OCV) system, while 7,61,140 voters inside Bangladesh registered under In-Country Postal Voting (ICPV).

In the 13th parliamentary election, more than 2,000 candidates are contesting, including over 250 independents, with the rest representing 51 political parties. On 20 January, when symbol allocation was completed, the number of candidates stood at 1,972. Later, around 40-45 candidates regained eligibility through court orders, bringing the total to 2,017.

EC rejects Jamaat's request to drop 'scale' symbol in 7 seats

Meanwhile, the EC has rejected Jamaat-e-Islami's request not to allocate its electoral symbol, the 'scale', in seven constituencies after the withdrawal deadline had passed.

Jamaat made the request following seat-sharing understandings with a 10-party alliance on 23 and 24 January. However, the commission said there is no provision to withdraw party symbols after the official withdrawal deadline.

In a letter signed by EC Deputy Secretary Md Monir Hossain and sent to Jamaat's secretary general, the commission cited Article 16(2) of the Representation of the People Order, 1972, which requires parties to notify final nominations on or before the withdrawal date.

The EC informed Jamaat that symbol withdrawal is not permissible under the law.

The seven constituencies are Chattogram-8, Narsingdi-2, Bhola-2, Narsingdi-3, Narayanganj-3, Sunamganj-1 and Chattogram-12.

Separately, the EC has reiterated that the use of posters in election campaigns is completely banned. To enforce the ban, the commission has instructed returning officers across the country to ensure that printing presses do not print election posters.

In a directive issued on Thursday, Deputy Secretary Monir Hossain reminded officials that under the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates 2025, Rule 7(a) explicitly prohibits the use of posters in election campaigning.

The EC has asked authorities to take administrative measures to prevent violations of the code of conduct and to stop the printing of election posters nationwide.