Swaraj India moves to Delhi HC on common symbol plea

Swaraj India, led by Yogender Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, approached Delhi High Court on Tuesday challenging the state election commission's denial to their plea for a common symbol in the upcoming civic polls.

Court fixed the hearing in connection with the matter for tomorrow.

Delhi state election commission today announced the April 22 as the date for MCD polls.

Petitioner saying, the poll panel denied the request for a symbol on March 7 despite a provision in the rules to provide a symbol to a registered but unrecognised political party like Swaraj India which is set to make its electoral debut.

Senior advocate Arvind Nigam mentioned the matter before a bench of Justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and V. K. Rao for an urgent hearing.

Swaraj India was floated by Yadav and Bhushan, who were expelled from Aam Aadmi Party after they questioned Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's leadership.

The lawyer argued that under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) (Amendment) Order the Election Commission of India itself allows newly registered political parties to have a common symbol for all their candidates for contesting their first election.

The party has claimed that states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Kerala, Sikkim and Tripura follow the rules made by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)