Arrow symbol stays with Nitish Kumar faction as Delhi HC refuses to interfere in the ECI order

Above: (Left) Arrow, the symbol of JD (U); (right) Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Indermeet Kaur on thursday (November 23) refused to interfere in the Election Commission of India (ECI) order allotting JD (U) symbol “Arrow” to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar faction.

The Bench was hearing the petition filed by Chhotubhai Amarsang Vasava who is acting president of Sharad Yadav’s faction.

The petitioner had submitted to the Bench on Wednesday (November 22) that ECI had wrongly allotted the party symbol “Arrow” and recognising Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led faction as real Janata Dal (United).

“ECI’s November 17 order should be quashed as it has “gravely erred” in granting JD(U)’s official symbol “Arrow” to the Nitish Kumar faction,” Chhotubhai had submitted.

The ECI while allotting the “Arrow” symbol to Nitish Kumar led faction had said in its order: “As per the Commission’s record, Nitish Kumar is the President of the party, elected in 2016, as per the information furnished by the party under Sub-section (9) of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”

—India Legal Bureau