SP war: EC reserves order on 'cycle' symbol

New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Friday reserved its order on usage of the ‘cycle’ symbol of the Samajwadi Party (SP) after a hearing that lasted over 5 hours.

The faction-led by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father put forth their arguments asking the Commission to allot the party symbol to them.

Speaking to reporters after the conclusion of the meet, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Akhilesh, said, "Samajwadi party led by Akhilesh said that the symbol be allotted to them and on the other hand Mulayam's advocate affirmed that the symbol to be allotted to them. Around five and a half hours the discussions took place."

Sibal further informed that the EC will "soon" take a decision in this regard.

Both Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and SP supremo Mulayam Singh have approached the EC claiming the party symbol, amidst a bitter feud in the party. The EC is to decide which faction will be able to use the symbol for the Assembly polls starting February 4. The EC might opt to ‘freeze’ the symbol and allot a completely different one to each faction, reports have suggested.

However, both factions have a Plan B in place. While party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav intends to merge his faction with another party, Lok Dal, and use its symbol — two bullocks and a farmer tilling land, Akhilesh Yadav is likely to float his own party, the Akhil Bhartiya Samajwadi Party, with “motorcycle” as its symbol.

On Thursday, Akhilesh Yadav held a meeting with party workers and assured them that he would soon start campaigning.

On Thursday morning, Lok Dal national president Sunil Singh had a meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav and Amar Singh, apparently to look at the options of a merger. The meeting, at Mulayam Singh Yadav’s New Delhi residence on Ashoka Road, was also attended by a couple of lawyers, who will represent the Mulayam faction at the EC today.

Emerging from the meeting, Amar Singh told this newspaper that though efforts were on resolve differences, “in the event of EC freezing the symbol, we are looking at the options of Mulayam faction contesting on the Lok Dal symbol.” Asked whether the Mulayam faction would be called Lok Dal, Sunil Singh said, “We are looking at all options”.

The Lok Dal website claims that the outfit was founded by former Prime Minister Charan Singh in 1980 and had all the top regional satraps. The names of the regional leaders listed by the website include Devi Lal, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Nitish Kumar, among others.

With the possibility of a patch-up between father and son getting remote with each passing day, sources said that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister has virtually made up his mind to float his own outfit, Akhil Bhartiya Samajwadi Party, with motorcycle as its symbol.

It may be called that on Tuesday Mulayam Singh Yadav met his son in Lucknow and declared that Akhilesh would be Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister if the SP won the polls.

Despite his father’s olive branch, Akhilesh Yadav has refused to step down as Samajwadi Party’s national president. Akhilesh was selected national president of the party at a convention on January 1, which Mulayam Singh Yadav declared “unconstitutional”.