This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (August 2024) |
The Boat is the electoral symbol of Bangladesh Awami League.
After the independence of Pakistan, East Bengal-based United Front wanted to have the plough for the 1954 East Bengal Legislative Assembly election, but as the symbol was used in British India by the Krishak Praja Party, the government didn’t grant them the symbol. Instead they had to choose boat as their electoral symbol.[1] The United Front was dissolved in 1957 and then East Pakistan Awami League, one of its member parties, got the symbol for elections. In 1970 Pakistani general election, the All-Pakistan Awami League participated with the boat symbol and won.[2] The Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League, member party of the Awami League-led 8 Party Alliance, participated in the 1986 Bangladeshi general election with the boat symbol.[3][4] Before 2018 Bangladeshi general election, 11 political parties wanted to participate with the boat symbol under the Awami League-led Grand Alliance.[5] In 2023, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Jatiya Party (Manju) and Workers Party of Bangladesh, members party of the Awami League based 14 Party Alliance, decided to choose the boat symbol for the 2024 Bangladeshi general election instead of their own electoral symbol.[6] In 2024, the Awami League authority decided not to grant their party symbol to anyone for the local elections to resolve disputes among the party workers. Instead they decided that the candidates from the party can use any symbol they want.[7][8]