The interim government has officially enacted the Representation of the People's Order (RPO) Amendment Ordinance, 2025, introducing a crucial new provision for the upcoming 13th parliamentary election.
The Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs issued the ordinance as a gazette on Monday.
The most significant amendment mandates that parliamentary candidates must contest using the registered symbol of their own party, even if they are part of a political alliance. This means that a candidate nominated by an alliance but belonging to a specific registered party cannot use the symbol of another party within that alliance.
The Advisory Council approved the draft RPO Amendment Ordinance in principle on October 23.
The BNP raised objections to this specific requirement for alliance members to use their own symbols.
Conversely, Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP) explicitly demanded that the amendment to Section 20, which contains this provision, be maintained.
The final ordinance was issued with the requirement intact.
This RPO amendment is the final step in a series of electoral law reforms initiated by the Election Commission (EC) ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election. The EC, the constitutional body responsible for organizing the polls, had previously amended several other laws and regulations, including: • The Voter List Act • The Election Officer Special Provisions Act • The Election Commission Secretariat Act • The Polling Station Policy • The Domestic and Foreign Observation Policy • The Journalist Policy
The EC is expected to soon issue a code of conduct for parties and candidates, reflecting the changes made in the RPO Amendment Ordinance.
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