Indian Secular Front (ISF), a minority-based opposition party in West Bengal, moved the Calcutta High Court on Monday, challenging the allotment by the Election Commission (EC) of its party symbol, envelope, to Democratic Trinamul Congress, a rebel faction of the erstwhile original party: Trinamul Congress, last week to contest the Assembly bypoll at two seats on October 6.
The petition is expected to come up for hearing later this week. The EC had allotted ISF’s symbol, envelope, to Democratic TMC on September 18 and gave it a new one, almirah, which however left its leadership disappointed. Bhangar ISF MLA Noushad Siddiqui said, “We had contested the Assembly polls on ‘envelope’ symbol which was already registered with the EC. The upcoming bypoll is a part of it.”
He pointed out, “Our ‘envelope’ symbol is already recognised by our voters. Changing it just before the bypoll will confuse them only. It appears to be a plot to help the rebel TMC faction get some free votes from our supporters without any effort. Moreover, how could the EC unilaterally change our poll symbol without consulting us? We have already sent a letter of objection to the EC.”
Mr Siddiqui also wondered how a party like Democratic TMC, which never existed earlier, could overnight get recognised.
Riju Dutta, a spokesperson of Democratic TMC headed by leader of the opposition in the state Ritabrata Banerjee, however defended the EC decision arguing that the ISF is an “unrecognised party.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
