No political party has right over national emblem: RTI activist

Samajwadi Party leader and RTI activist Kali Shankar Yadav who filed a petition seeking to scrap the Lotus symbol allotted to BJP in the Allahabad High Court told ETV Bharat said that no political party has the right over national emblem or national heritage. The Election Commission is yet to file a reply before the Allahabad High Court in this regard on August 16.

Gorakhpur (UP): Samajwadi Party leader and RTI activist Kali Shankar Yadav who had filed a petition seeking to scrap the Lotus symbol allotted to BJP in the Allahabad High Court told ETV Bharat on Friday that no political party has the right over the national emblem or national heritage. The Election Commission needs to file a reply regarding the matter before the Allahabad High Court on August 16.

The SP leader in his PIL had mentioned that the use of such symbols (lotus, considered a national flower) by political parties should be restricted to polls only and that it must not be used as a logo.

Even as the matter is still in court, Samajwadi Party leader has full hope that the Election Commission will not be able to give a proper reply. He further added that if the court takes an action on BJP's election symbol, then all elections that the party had contested and won earlier should be cancelled and that a PIL in this regard would also be filed as well.

The RTI activist said that he did not file the PIL with any political motive, but that no political party can have any right over the national emblem or national heritage. Hence, it is not appropriate for the BJP to use the lotus flower as their election symbol.

Read:Allahabad High Court: Petition seeks scrapping of BJP's Lotus symbol

The scheme of the election under Article 324 of the Constitution of India, Representation of the People Act 1951 and the Rules and Orders framed thereunder provide for allotment of symbol to contesting candidates for participation in elections. Such a symbol cannot be permanently used by political parties as their party logo, the petitioner said.

Yadav further asserted that even a reserved symbol is only for one election and that cannot be used and treated as a perpetual election symbol of that specific recognized political party.