Kerala Assembly Elections | Kerala Congress in a bind over election symbol
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Entry of a smaller outfit led by a Congress insurgent in Changanassery provides to confusion
Even because it awaits allotment of a new election symbol from the Election Commission of India (ECI) put up a merger, the Kerala Congress’ plans to make sure a frequent symbol to all its candidates in the upcoming Assembly elections seem to have hit a blockade with the entry of a smaller outfit in the ballot fray.
According to occasion sources, all 10 candidates fielded by the Kerala Congress (KC) had sought ‘tractor’ as their election symbol. However, in Changanassery, it should compete with Babychan Mukkadan, a Congress insurgent who contests as a candidate of the Indian Christian Secular Party, for the symbol.
Concerned over the event, the KC management is now working additional time to persuade Mr. Mukkadan to withdraw his nomination. “We are still hopeful that he will come up with a favourable decision by March 23, the last date for withdrawing nominations,” mentioned a prime KC chief.
Coin toss
In case Mr. Mukkadan decides in opposition to pulling again, the allocation of the symbol will probably be selected the toss of a coin. The occasion, in the meantime, is assured of its remaining 9 candidates receiving the symbol with out a lot fuss.
Post its merger with the P.C. Thomas faction, the occasion tried to retrieve its outdated symbol ‘bicycle’, which didn’t fructify owing to a delay in approaching the ECI. Following this, the occasion’s candidates marked ‘tractor’ as their most well-liked election symbol in their nominations, apart from ‘coconut trees’ and ‘football’ because the second and third choices.
“The merger has taken place solely in precept and P.C. Thomas, who stays the occasion chairman on the paper, has already endorsed our candidates as occasion nominees. The transfer now awaits approval from the ECI, which can take a while and therefore, the candidates are most probably to contest with the symbols allotted by the respective returning officers”, the chief added.
The persevering with uncertainty over the symbol additionally compelled a delay in the candidates submitting their nominations until Friday afternoon, with simply a couple of hours for the deadline. In view of the confusion, the occasion’s candidates submitted three units of nominations in search of completely different election symbols and the dummy nominations will probably be withdrawn on allocation of the specified symbol.
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