Delhi HC junks PIL seeking freeze on BJP's lotus symbol

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking freezing of BJP's election symbol "Lotus" on the ground that it "represents the manifestation of God" and its use during elections was "illegal".

"There is no public interest involved in it," a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said.

"You (petitioner) came after 35 years," the court said, adding that "this was done long back in 1980, since then what were you doing".

The court also took into consideration the submissions made by the counsel for central government, advocate Nagender Benipal, who said that similar petitions have been dismissed by the high court earlier, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court.

The NGO, in its plea said, "Direct respondent no.1 and 2 (Ministry of Law and Justice and Election Commission of India) to remove Lotus from list of free and unrestricted symbol of poll panel as well as from the election symbol of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the interest of national Justice."

Lotus represents the manifestation of God, and is also a symbol of purity and tenderness, the plea added.