JOIN USSP camps must prove strength by Jan 9: EC
The rival factions of the Samajwadi Party (SP) now have time till January 9 to prove their strength in support of their claim on the party’s poll symbol ‘cycle’.
The Election Commission (EC) has asked the SP factions, one led by party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and another by his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, to respond by January 9 to the arguments put forward by each side to counter their claim on the poll symbol.
Sources in the EC said in New Delhi on Thursday that the poll panel will take a call on the fate of SP’s poll symbol after examining the arguments and counter-arguments of both the factions.
The EC declared the schedules of the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and four other states on Wednesday.
The SP is in power in Uttar Pradesh while the other parties in the fray include the BJP, BSP and the Congress.
Uttar Pradesh is going to the polls in seven phases. The notification for the first phase will be issued on January 17. The last date for filing nominations for the 73 Assembly seats going to the polls in the first phase is January 24 and polling will take place on February 11.
It is the EC which will decide if any of the factions will have the right to allot SP’s poll-symbol – ‘bicycle’ – to the party’s candidates. The poll panel is expected to take call before January 17, the day notification for the first phase of the elections will be issued and the candidates will start filing their nominations.
The rival factions of the SP are expected to submit supporting affidavits signed by the party’s representatives in Parliament, Legislative Assembly Council in order to buttress their claim on the poll symbol.