Bhopal: The letter written by former PM Indira Gandhi in 1981 to the Election Commission of India (EC) asking for “open palm” as an election symbol for the Congress could not be found, a reply to an RTI query by the EC has revealed.
In a reply to a query by Gwalior-based advocate Girish Sharma, the EC said the file related to allotment of poll symbol of “open palm” to the Congress following an appeal by late Gandhi could not be located.
“Information regarding allotment of this symbol to any political party before 1981 elections is readily not available”, the EC said, according to Mr Sharma.
“I have been approaching the EC for the past 15 years to get access to the letter written by Indira Gandhi asking for allotment of the symbol for the Congress. I want the symbol to be frozen since it was given to Congress (I) which no more exists. But, the letter is not made available to me by the EC,” Mr Sharma told this newspaper on Monday.
He said the EC should withdraw the Congress’ poll symbol since it violated the election guidelines. He planned to take out a “padayatra” from Orcha in Madhya Pradesh to Delhi demanding the EC to freeze the poll symbol.
