HYDERABAD: Objecting to the Election Commission of India (ECI) once again allotting the “road roller” symbol for Yuga Thulasi Party (YTP), the BRS on Wednesday urged the country’s poll regulatory body to reverse its decision at the earliest.
In a letter to the ECI, BRS general secretary Soma Bharat Kumar, Peddapalli MP Borlakunta Netha Venkatesh, Mahbubnagar MP M Srinivas Reddy requested the ECI “to complete the proceedings and pass final orders in favour of the BRS, within a reasonably short time, preferably within a week, that is well ahead of the schedule for the five State Assembly elections is issued”.
In the past too, the BRS made several representations to the ECI against allotment of road roller and other symbols, which were identical to its car symbol.
Responding to the ECI’s decision to allot the road roller symbol to YTP, which it revealed on September 18, the BRS leaders said in their letter: “We believe that this allocation raises significant questions as to the fairness and transparency in the electoral process. There is a strong possibility of the similarity between the road roller symbol and our party’s car symbol causing confusion among the voters, particularly those from rural background and those who are illiterate and elderly. Such confusion among the voters has already resulted in diversion of BRS votes to some inconsequential independents in the previous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.”
“We strongly oppose allotting the road roller symbol to Yuga Thulasi Party in Telangana. The Yuga Thulasi Party, represented by its president K Shiva Kumar, has a history that must be considered in the context of this matter. Shiva Kumar founded a political party in 2010 under the name and style of YSRCP (Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party),” the BRS leaders said.
“It is worth noting that this party was later handed over to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, for whatever consideration that is best known to Shiva Kumar. Later, during the Munugode byelection held in October, 2022, he tried to obtain the very same symbol. But our party strongly opposed the decision and urged the ECI to not allot the same to that party. But we didn’t succeed in our endeavour at that time,” they added.
They recalled that the road roller was deleted from the list of symbols in Telangana in 2011. “But the same symbol was chosen by Yuga Thulasi Party and the ECI also allotted it to that party,” they said.