HC rejects Samata party’s plea on Thackeray faction’s ‘flaming torch’ symbol

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea moved by the Samata Party challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to reserve the election symbol “Flaming Torch” for Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena Party for the upcoming Andheri East Assembly bypolls.
The ECI recently allotted the ‘Flaming Torch’ symbol to the Uddhav group for use in the upcoming Andheri East bypolls. The bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula on Wednesday while passing the order noted that the Petitioner Samata Party was declared unrecognised by the Election Commission in the year 2004.
The plea stated “The symbol: “Flaming Torch” was reserved for Samata Party which has constantly been contesting elections and might gain recognition in the near future, as a recognised party, then how can the symbol be given to some other party,”.
It also stated that the decision of the ECI where it allotted the symbol of ‘Flaming Torch’ to Shiv Sena is erroneous. The election commission of India in the impugned order itself stated that the symbol “Flaming Torch” is not in the list of a free symbol as it is reserved for Samata Party.
Since the decision of the Election Commission alloting the erstwhile reserved Samata Party’s symbol to Shiv Sena, the Petitioner party has been left without any symbol and therefore, unable to ventilate their political aspirations in the upcoming by-elections, the plea added