The Allahabad High Court has sought a response from the Election Commission of India on the issue of banning the BJP from using the lotus, the national flower, as its party symbol and its allocation for elections.
The issue has also arisen in the Court that the relaxation of election symbol by political parties for campaigning as a logo will discriminate against independent candidates.
This order has been given by a division bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Piyush Aggarwal on the PIL filed by Kali Shankar, SP leader of Chaurichora, Gorakhpur. Advocates GC Tiwari and Kapil Tiwari argued on behalf of the petitioner.
The petition states that the Election Commission has the right to allot election symbols to a national political party to contest elections under the Representation of the People Act 1951 and Election Symbol (Reservation and Allocation) Order 1968. The Election Commission has the right to withdraw the party’s recognition if it violates the Model Code of Conduct.
The BJP’s election symbol is India’s national symbol Lotus and therefore, it should be banned from confiscation and misuse. The Court has allowed the petitioner to make any other political party as a party in the Petition.
The Court said that the issue has not been raised in the petition that the election symbol is allotted only for the election, not for any other purpose, so why is the election symbol being allowed to be used for other purposes. The petitioner advocate asked why the election symbol is allotted to the contesting candidate.
The candidate has the right to elect a special party symbol. No political party has the right to use the election symbol as the party logo. The election symbol is limited to the election. The party does not have the right to give its election symbol to an independent candidate. If political parties were allowed to use the election symbol for other purposes, it would be unfair and discriminatory to independent candidates.
Political parties always campaign and independent candidates do not have this exemption because the election symbol is given only for contesting elections.
The Court said that in many countries there is no election symbol, but in India elections are being contested on symbols. There is no intention to withdraw the system of contesting elections from the election symbol of the Government.
The Election Commission advocate asked for time to consider these points. To which the Court has given time to file a reply. The petition will be heard next on January 12.
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