Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s camp on Tuesday knocked on the Election Commission of India’s door to stake claim to the party symbol, the bicycle. After meeting with the commission, SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said they asked the EC to consider as real the faction of the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav as it has majority of MlAs’ support.
Talking to reporters, Ram Gopal said that he told the commission that since the Chief Minister has the support of 90 per cent of the elected representatives and 80 per cent of delegates and he is also the party president, the faction led by him should be considered the real Samajwadi Party.
He was accompanied by Naresh Agarwal and Kiranmoy Nanda. All three who represented Akhilesh before the poll panel were expelled from the SP by Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday.
The Akhilesh Yadav-led faction went to meet the ECI a day after Mulayam Singh Yadav staked claim to the same while asserting that the Samajwadi Party’s “election symbol is my signature.”
Now, with the rival factions staking claim over the party and its symbol, the ball is in the Commission’s court. Since the Assembly elections are set to be announced any day now, the ECI has little time to adjudicate the matter. Unless both factions smoke the peace pipe, as an interim measure, the EC could freeze the cycle symbol.
Before the ECI proceeds to adjudicate the matter, it will ask Mulayam and Akhilesh to respond to the claims by the opposite side. The process, ECI sources said, may take up to four months before a final order is issued.