THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Warring factions of the Kerala Congress (M) will not be able to contest the upcoming local body poll under the traditional ‘Two Leaves’ election symbol. State Election Commissioner V Bhaskaran issued an order in that regard on Tuesday.
The decision came in the wake of both factions of KC(M), led by Jose K Mani and P J Joseph, staking claim to the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol before the state poll panel. While the Jose faction has been allotted ‘table fan’, the Joseph faction can contest on ‘chenda’ symbol.
The decision to freeze the symbol, however, will be subject to the final verdict of the Kerala High Court which is hearing a case relating to the ‘Two Leaves’ symbol. The Election Commission had earlier allotted ‘Two Leaves’ to the Jose faction, but the Joseph faction challenged the decision in the High Court.
Even though the matter is sub-judice, the state poll panel had to take a tentative decision as the deadline for filing of nominations will end on Thursday and the scrutiny of nominations will begin on Friday.