Symbol blues strike more parties

Praja Rajyam is not the only party that is facing symbol blues. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Lok Satta Party are also in the queue before the Election Commission, seeking allotment of a common symbol for its candidates in the general elections.

The SP, which has only one member, D. K. Aruna in the 12th Assembly, now wants to field its candidates in 60 Assembly and 15 Lok Sabha constituencies, according to B. Jagdish Yadav, its State president. Allotment of ‘cycle’, the symbol the Samajwadi Party uses in Uttar Pradesh has been ruled out by the Election Commission in Andhra Pradesh as it has already been reserved for Telugu Deasm, which is a State-recognised party here.

Mr. Yadav represented to Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami and Commissioners Navin Chawla and S. Y. Quraishi, to allot ‘banyan tree’ from out of the 59 free symbols available in the list of the EC as common symbol to his party.

Going by the rules, the party’s request is unlikely to be conceded as the SP has not been given “recognised State party” status in Andhra Pradesh. The PR has filed another petition in the High Court which will come up for hearing on March 16.

The Lok Satta is seeking ‘whistle’, one of the free symbols, for its candidates.