On September 1, 1978, the then martyred President Ziaur Rahman established the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) by bringing followers of different political paths and ideologies onto one platform.

After the establishment of BNP as a political party, BNP first held elections in 1979 using the symbol of a sheaf of rice.

Analysts say that this rice husk symbol was used in elections before the BNP. Before Bangladesh's independence, the National Awami Party (NAP) led by Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani contested the elections in 1970 using the symbol of rice husk.

The NAP led by Maulana Bhashani had chosen the rice ear as its symbol and left the United Front.

Later, BNP was born in 1978 with the joining of a large section of NAP under the leadership of Maulana Bhashani. And this section was led by Mashiur Rahman, known as Jadu Mia.

Analyst Mohiuddin Ahmed told, "When a large part of Bhasani NAP merged with BNP under the leadership of Mashiur Rahman, BNP took the symbol of a sheaf of rice. Since Jadu Mia's part was large, they merged with BNP along with the symbol of a sheaf of rice. Since then, the symbol of BNP has been a sheaf of rice."

Since then, BNP has been participating in various parliamentary elections with a paddy ear as the party symbol.

Former Election Commission officials say that not only the BNP, but also the parties that had previously used the same symbols in the elections after the 1990s have been using those symbols since then.

Former election official Jasmine Tully said, "Before 2001, there was a rule that on the day of symbol allocation before the election, the EC would sit with all the political parties and then allocate symbols. In most cases, the parties were allocated the same symbol that they had used in the previous elections."

He said that later, before the 2008 elections, the Election Commission led by Dr. ATM Shamsul Huda launched the registration process of political parties. At that time, BNP was given the symbol of a sheaf of rice.

Later, not only in the national parliamentary elections, but also in some local parliamentary elections, BNP candidates participated in the elections under the paddy sheaf symbol.

Source: BBC Bangla