A thorny tryst with look-alike symbols

Name change and byelection aside, TRS still has a battle to wage with the EC

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti has initiated the process for change of its name as Bharata Rashtra Samiti for a pan India identity, retaining car as its symbol with the Election Commission of India. However, the party has locked horns with the top election body over the free symbols issue; it feels that there are several look-alike symbols in the free symbols allotted by the EC that reportedly affected its vote share at least to some extent in the elections conducted in the past.

The developments in the State ahead of the high voltage byelection to Munugode Assembly segment is turning out to be another opportunity for the TRS leadership to score political points over the rival BJP. The replacement of the returning officer of the constituency, Jagannatha Rao, by the Commission has given ample opportunity to the TRS leadership to reiterate its claim that the BJP leadership is diluting the spirit of the constitutional institutions like the Election Commission by having a say in their affairs.

The replacement of the official, TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao alleged, proved yet again that the EC was working under the control of the BJP. “This is the latest example of how the BJP is misusing the constitutional bodies to serve its interests. The pressure on the EC, which is supposed to act beyond parties and in a democratic manner, from the BJP is visible,” he said, reacting to the replacement of the returning officer. Reintroducing the Road Roller symbol that was suspended in 2011 was nothing but ridiculing democracy in his view.

The EC has replaced the officer after taking a serious view of the manner in which he had changed the free symbol allotted to the independent candidate K. Shiva Kumar without intimating the latter in advance or consulting the special observer nominated to oversee the poll process.

The Commission, in its letter to the Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj, said it had gone through all the papers placed on the record and considered the cases. Explaining the circumstances, the EC said: “From plain reading of the provisions, it is clear under Rule 10(5) of Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, only the Election Commission and not the RO is empowered to revise the allotment order, if the same is inconsistent with any direction issued by the Elections Commission”.

The development comes in the light of representation submitted by the TRS to the EC, seeking suspension of look-alike symbols like road roller, camera, chapatti roller, television, ship, sewing machine, and soap dish as these looked like the car symbol on electronic voting machines. These symbols were affecting the parties’ prospects as uneducated voters could not see the difference and were casting votes against the other symbols believing that it was the car symbol.

The party approached the High Court too on the issue recently but the court last Tuesday dismissed the petition, saying it cannot interfere in the matter as the EC had set the byelection process in motion.