The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the Election Commission (EC) of India to allot a common election symbol to Chandra Shekhar Aazad's political party for the upcoming assembly elections in five states.
Justice Prateek Jalan directed the EC to facilitate the process after it said that it had no objection to granting a common symbol to the Bhim Army chief for his 'Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram)' as long as a common symbol is available in all five states and the already allotted common symbol for three states is surrendered.
“The Commission will inform the petitioner of the symbols that are available in each of the five states and the petitioner may opt for any of those and it may be allotted to him. The Election Commission is directed to facilitate this process,” said the judge who was hearing Aazad's petition seeking a common election symbol for his political outfit.
“Make sure that he gets a common symbol, whatever it is... Whatever you find is available in all five states, give it to him,” the court told the EC.
“Tell your client no fussing about which symbol it is,” the judge told the counsel for the petitioner.
The petitioner's lawyer said that in terms of an earlier order asking him to approach the EC for the grant of a common symbol, applications were made by him but no action was taken by the authorities.
Advocate Sidhant Kumar, representing the EC, stated that pursuant to the applications, the petitioner has been allotted helicopter as a common symbol for three states — Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
He said that while the application for Uttar Pradesh was rejected for being premature, the symbol sought was also not available for Uttarakhand.
The petitioner's lawyer asserted that there was no preference and any common symbol may be allotted for the petitioner's political party.
Considering that the petitioner was seeking “any” common symbol for his political party, the court asked the EC to inform him about the symbols available in the five states and facilitate the process after fresh applications are made.
“They want a common symbol... For Uttarakhand, you are saying it is rejected because the symbol that you (Aazad) have chosen resembles some other symbols... Then either you (EC) decide (which symbol is to be given) or you update the list (of free symbols) on a real-time basis so that the person knows which symbol is available today. We can't have a completely opaque system like this,” the judge remarked.
On November 12, the EC had told the high court that it would consider in accordance with law Aazad's application for allotment of a common symbol for the upcoming assembly elections. The judge had then disposed of Aazad's petition seeking a common election, observing that the petitioner's application may be considered by the commission in terms of the Symbols Order and other applicable laws.
The EC's lawyer had stated that there was a separate process of allotment for each assembly election and the petitioner's plea for a common symbol for his unrecognised, registered party “could be considered” in accordance with the law.
The plea had contended that since the political party was going to contest the upcoming assembly elections and continuously organising rallies, the general public desired to know the common election symbol.
The petition claimed that Aazad was “suffering irreparable losses” due to the absence of a common election symbol.
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