Election Commission has told both sides the judgment will be delivered at the earliest, before the process of filing nominations for phase one of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections begins
SP supremo Mulayamâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Singh Yadav leaves the EC office in New Delhi
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New Delhi: The Mulayam and the Akhilesh Yadav camps yesterday argued before the Election Commission to stake claim over the ‘cycle’ election symbol of Samajwadi Party even as the poll body reserved its order on the issue.
The Commission has told both the sides that a judgement will be delivered at the earliest as the process of filing nominations for the phase one of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will begin on January 17.
Appearing for Akhilesh Yadav, senior counsels Rajeev Dhavan and Kapil Sibal argued before the Commission that majority of the MPs, MLAs, MLACs and party delegates are with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.
During the nearly 4.5 hours of arguments, rival cousins Mulayam Singh and Ramgopal were present. While Mulayam was accompanied by his brother Shivpal, Ramgopal was with Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarwal.
“Both the sides staked claim on the election symbol. No one argued for freezing the symbol,” Dhavan later said.
Interim order
The EC may come out with an interim order if it is unable to decide on the case before January 17 as the process of filing nominations for the first phase of UP polls will begin on that day. The side which has the support of majority (50 per cent plus 1) MPs, MLAs, MLCs and delegates will gain an upper hand in the fight to control the party founded 25 years ago. With the notification, the process of filing nominations will begin. Candidates from Mulayam and Akhilesh camps cannot fight election on cycle symbol at the same time, therefore, the EC will have to take a call on the issue before that date.