NEW DELHI: Bhim Army president Chandrashekhar Azad has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Election Commission (ECI) to register his political party in the name of ‘Aazad Samaj Party’ (Kansi Ram) and allot a symbol to contest the upcoming Bihar elections.
The high court on Wednesday sought response of the ECI on a plea by the Bhim Army chief.
Justice Jayant Nath issued notice to the ECI and asked it to respond to the plea which also sought to reduce the 30 days service period to 7 days for inviting objections from anyone and listed the matter for further hearing on October 20.
The plea by Chandra Shekhar said he and the party workers are making sincere efforts to participate in the Bihar elections and by-election in other states, I but if the process period of 30 days for inviting objection is not reduced, the petitioner may not be permitted to participate in Bihar polls under the name and symbol of the party.
Advocate Rajeev Sharma, representing ECI, opposed the petition saying a similar request was also made by other political parties to reduce the service period for inviting objections which have already been rejected by the commission.
He said a one time relaxation was given in the 2019 general elections but it cannot be done now. The first phase of election in Bihar will begin from October 28 and will end on November 7.
Filing of nominations for the first phase will end on October 8.