DENIAL OF POLL SYMBOL: SWARAJ INDIA MOVES HC

The Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj India moved the Delhi high court on Tuesday against the State Election Commission’s denial of its plea for a common symbol for the upcoming civic polls in the city. Appearing for the party, senior advocate Arvind Nigam mentioned the matter before a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and V.K. Rao for an urgent hearing. The bench allowed the matter to be listed for hearing on Wednesday before the appropriate court. The state election commission has announced that the municipal polls would be held on April 22 in the national capital. Swaraj India was floated by Mr Yadav and Prasant Bhushan, who were expelled from Aam Aadmi Party after they questioned Arvind Kejriwal’s leadership. Mr Nigam said the poll panel denied their request for a symbol on March 7 despite a provision in the rules to provide a symbol to a registered but unrecognised political party like Swaraj India which is set to make its election debut in the upcoming municipal polls. The lawyer argued that under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) (Amendment) Order, the Election Commission itself allows newly-registered political parties to have a common symbol for all their candidates for contesting their first election. The party has claimed that states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Kerala, Sikkim and Tri-pura follow the rule made by the EC