High Court seeks ECI’s response on SFB’s symbol issue

When the bench sought reply from the ECI, its standing counsel Avinash Desai said that there was no subsequent representation by the party on this issue.
Telangana elections 2018
Telangana elections 2018

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to respond by Friday to the plea of Samajwadi Forward Bloc party for allotment of common ‘Truck’ symbol to all its candidates in the ensuing elections to Telangana State Legislative Assembly.

The bench of Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice SV Bhatt was dealing with the petition filed by Samajwadi Forward Bloc (SFB), represented by its national president L Muralidhar Rao, seeking a direction to the ECI to allot common ‘Truck’ symbol to the second and third list of candidates as the same was denied to them by the commission.

Senior counsel Vedula Venkata Ramana, appearing for the petitioner party, submitted that the party was a registered political party and it has released its first list of candidates for which ‘Truck’ symbol was allotted by the ECI. However, the same was not being extended to the remaining list of candidates. As per Section 10-B of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) order, 1968, every registered political party should be issued with a common symbol, he added.

When the bench sought a reply from the ECI, its standing counsel Avinash Desai said that there was no subsequent representation by the party on this issue. The bench then directed the ECI counsel to get instructions on the issue and posted the matter to November 16 for further hearing.

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