EC allots ‘two swords and shield’ poll symbol to Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde | India News
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Tuesday allotted the poll symbol ‘two swords and shield’ to Balasahebanchi ShivSena led by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde. Any candidate to be put up in an election by the Shinde faction can contest on this symbol until determination of the factional dispute in the Shiv Sena.
The Shinde faction had on Tuesday reverted to EC with a fresh list of preferred symbols after all its three choices — trishul (trident), rising sun and ‘gada’ (mace) — were turned down by the poll panel on Monday. While trishul and gada were rejected on account of their religious connotation, rising sun was denied as it is the reserved symbol of DMK, a state party recognised in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The fresh list submitted by the Shinde group proposed three new symbols — sun/surya/sooraj, ‘dhal talwar’ (shield and sword) and ‘peepal tree’. Incidentally, none of these figure in the EC list of notified free symbols. The Commission, while denying the faction ‘sun/surya/sooraj’ as poll symbol, decided to go with the second preference — ‘dhal talwar’ (shield and sword) — albeit with a tweak.
Stating that ‘dhal talwar’ resembles an erstwhile reserved symbol — ‘do talwarein aur ek dhal’ (two swords and a shield) allotted to People’s Democratic Party that was derecognised in 2004 and delisted on December 26, 2016, EC said it had, based on Balasahebanchi ShivSena’s request, decided to declare ‘do talwarein aur ek dhal’ to be a free symbol and allot it to the candidate to be set up by the group.
Sharing reasons for rejecting the Shinde group’s first preference — ‘sun/surya/sooraj’ — EC said the name of the proposed symbol resembled that of the ‘sun (without rays)’ symbol reserved for Zoram Nationalist Party, a recognised state party in Mizoram, and ‘rising sun’ symbol of the DMK, a recognised state party in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Para 9 of the Symbols Order restricts allotment of symbols reserved for state parties in states where such parties are not recognised.
Even in design, EC pointed out, the ‘sun’ symbol proposed by Balasahebanchi ShivSena resembled Zoram Nationalist Party’s ‘sun (without rays)’ symbol and could also be confused with other free symbols notified by EC, such as apple, cauliflower and football.
On Monday, EC had recognised the rival Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray by the name ‘ShivSena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’ and allotted it the ‘flaming torch’ (mashaal) symbol. While the Thackeray faction will field a candidate in the Andheri East byelection, the Shinde faction could back the candidate to be put up by its ally BJP.
The Shinde faction had on Tuesday reverted to EC with a fresh list of preferred symbols after all its three choices — trishul (trident), rising sun and ‘gada’ (mace) — were turned down by the poll panel on Monday. While trishul and gada were rejected on account of their religious connotation, rising sun was denied as it is the reserved symbol of DMK, a state party recognised in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The fresh list submitted by the Shinde group proposed three new symbols — sun/surya/sooraj, ‘dhal talwar’ (shield and sword) and ‘peepal tree’. Incidentally, none of these figure in the EC list of notified free symbols. The Commission, while denying the faction ‘sun/surya/sooraj’ as poll symbol, decided to go with the second preference — ‘dhal talwar’ (shield and sword) — albeit with a tweak.
Stating that ‘dhal talwar’ resembles an erstwhile reserved symbol — ‘do talwarein aur ek dhal’ (two swords and a shield) allotted to People’s Democratic Party that was derecognised in 2004 and delisted on December 26, 2016, EC said it had, based on Balasahebanchi ShivSena’s request, decided to declare ‘do talwarein aur ek dhal’ to be a free symbol and allot it to the candidate to be set up by the group.
Sharing reasons for rejecting the Shinde group’s first preference — ‘sun/surya/sooraj’ — EC said the name of the proposed symbol resembled that of the ‘sun (without rays)’ symbol reserved for Zoram Nationalist Party, a recognised state party in Mizoram, and ‘rising sun’ symbol of the DMK, a recognised state party in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Para 9 of the Symbols Order restricts allotment of symbols reserved for state parties in states where such parties are not recognised.
Even in design, EC pointed out, the ‘sun’ symbol proposed by Balasahebanchi ShivSena resembled Zoram Nationalist Party’s ‘sun (without rays)’ symbol and could also be confused with other free symbols notified by EC, such as apple, cauliflower and football.
On Monday, EC had recognised the rival Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray by the name ‘ShivSena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)’ and allotted it the ‘flaming torch’ (mashaal) symbol. While the Thackeray faction will field a candidate in the Andheri East byelection, the Shinde faction could back the candidate to be put up by its ally BJP.
