The Election Commission (EC) will on Friday hear arguments of both the rival factions of the Samajwadi Party (SP) before deciding on their claim and counter-claim on the party’s poll-symbol ‘bicycle’.
The EC sent notices to both the factions — one led by party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and another by his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav — to appear before it for a hearing on Friday, a spokesperson of the poll panel said.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and Election Commissioners O P Rawat and A K Joti will hear the arguments.
The feud within the first family of the party reached the EC early this month when both factions staked claim to the party’s poll symbol.
Mulayam, who founded the Samajwadi Party 25 years ago, was removed from the post of the party president in a convention called by his brother and party general secretary Ram Gopal in Lucknow on January 1.
He was replaced by Akhilesh. The party patriarch, however, was given the role of the mentor.
Mulayam called the convention illegal and convened another meet on January 5. He, however, later called off the January 5 meeting.
