The High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) challenging the State Election Commission’s (SEC) decision to include the party’s symbol the gas cylinder in the list of free symbols for local body elections. The VBA had sought exclusive reservation of the gas cylinder as its election symbol.
The party has used the gas cylinder in previous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. However, for the upcoming local body polls, the SEC has classified it as a free symbol, meaning any candidate may claim it. Opposing this, party chief and lawyer Prakash Ambedkar approached the High Court on behalf of the VBA.
A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad dismissed the petition after hearing both sides. The Court accepted the SEC’s argument that the party must approach the competent authority regarding its demand. It also noted the SEC’s stand that the Election Commission of India’s decisions on symbol allocation for parliamentary and assembly elections are not binding on the State Election Commission for local body polls.
The SEC informed the Court that since the gas cylinder has not been reserved for local body elections, VBA candidates in different constituencies might have to contest with different symbols. The Commission emphasised that the symbol therefore remains in the free-symbol category.
Vanchit argued that the party was registered in 2019 and that no local body elections had been held since 2017; hence, it could not have fulfilled the SEC’s criteria related to symbol reservation. The party contended that this condition should not be held against it.
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