Jamaat gets back ‘Daripalla’

Staff Reporter :

The Election Commission (EC) has officially reinstated Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s registration as a political party and restored its iconic election symbol Daripalla (balance scale), ending over a decade-long legal and political battle.

The reinstatement was confirmed through a circular issued on Tuesday, signed by Akhtar Ahmed, Senior Secretary of the Election Commission Secretariat. The letter declared that Jamaat has regained its full electoral identity, including its long-held symbol.

The decision follows a ruling by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on June 1 this year, which cleared the way for Jamaat to regain its registration. Subsequently, the EC declared on June 4 that it would reinstate Jamaat’s registration and reassign the balance scale symbol.

Jamaat lost its official party status on August 1, 2013, when the High Court declared its registration illegal. The case stemmed from a writ petition filed in 2009 by Maulana Syed Rezaul Haque Chandpuri, Secretary General of the Bangladesh Tariqat Federation, along with 24 others, challenging Jamaat’s eligibility on constitutional grounds.

Following the verdict, the EC formally revoked Jamaat’s registration in October 2018, just months before the 11th national parliamentary election.
The reinstatement of Jamaat’s registration marks the end of a prolonged legal struggle. The party had filed an appeal with the Appellate Division challenging the High Court’s verdict. The appeal hearing began in December 2023.

Complicating the matter further, the Supreme Court in December 2016 had requested the EC not to allocate the balance scale symbol to any political party, as it resembled the apex court’s own monogram. However, the symbol was historically used by Jamaat for decades.

Before the recent developments, Jamaat faced another setback when the Awami League-led government banned the party and its affiliated organisations, including Islami Chhatra Shibir, through an executive order under the Anti-Terrorism Act in its final days in office. That ban, however, was lifted by the interim government on August 28 last year.

Jamaat was first banned in Bangladesh in 1972 under constitutional provisions barring religion-based politics due to its anti-liberation stance during the country’s war of independence. The prohibition was lifted in 1976 by the then military regime through a martial law proclamation.

With the restoration of its registration and election symbol, Jamaat is now poised to formally re-enter Bangladesh’s electoral politics after years of legal exclusion and political marginalisation. The development is expected to reshape alliances and dynamics in the country’s evolving political landscape as parties prepare for future elections.