Nitish faction gets JD(U)'s 'arrow'

The Election Commission (EC) has dismissed the claim made by the Sharad Yadav faction of JD(U) and allotted the party's poll-symbol "arrow" to the one led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The EC on Friday recognised the faction led by Nitish as the real JD(U), as it demonstrated "overwhelming majority support" in the legislature wing of the party as well as "the majority" in its apex body – the national council.

The order came as a setback for Yadav and paved the way for the Nitish-led faction to field candidates with the poll symbol in the Gujarat Assembly elections.

The commission rejected the petition submitted by Chhotubhai Amarsang Vasava, a JD(U) legislator from Gujarat, whom the faction led by Yadav last month declared as acting president of the party, replacing Nitish.

The commission applied the principle of the test of majority support in the organisational and legislative wings, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in Sadiq Ali vs Election Commission of India and others.