JOIN USThe Election Commission has removed four symbols from free elections symbols list for Delhi Assembly polls as well as modified controversial poll symbol, a battery torch, by removing the beam coming out of it.
Former Delhi law minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader welcomed the decision of the Election Commission to modify the torch symbol and said, “This is the least they could do for holding a free and fair election.”
“We had brought the issue of the confusion being caused by the torch symbol to the notice of the EC much before the December 2013 elections,” he added.
“Had the issue been addressed before the last elections, we would have got a majority AAP government in the city as we lost about six seats by a close margin due to the torch symbol, which looked similar to the broom,” he said.
A senior official with Delhi electoral office said that the EC has removed symbols like kite, ceiling fan, shuttle cock and carrot from the list of free election symbols.
“We are making it official that this elections, torch will be available as free election symbol but it won’t have its light,” said the official. “There are a total of 84 free election symbols for this Assembly polls,” he added.
The Aam Aadmi Party had appealed to Election Commission after the last Assembly elections to change the torch symbol as it caused confusion with its own symbol, broom.
The AAP had said that due to the similarity between the two symbols the party lost in two seats in the last Assembly elections – Janakpuri and Kalkaji.
Of the total 70 Assembly seats, the torch symbols was used in as many as 15 seats. The AAP had lost with close margins in Janakpuri and Kalkaji last year.
The AAP lost to the BJP by 2,700 votes in Janakpuri, while the independent candidate managed to bag nearly 4,400 votes. In Kalkaji, the AAP lost by 2,044 votes and the independent candidate secured 3,092 votes.