LS polls 2014: Aam Aadmi Party urges EC to remove 'battery torch' from its list of free symbols

NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party has managed to get its way with the Election Commission, convincing the electoral watchdog to change the appearance of a polling symbol to avoid confusion with the party’s own jhaadu (broom).

Convinced that the battery torch symbol cost the party a real shot at power during the Delhi assembly elections last year, the AAP is leaving nothing to chance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

It recently urged the Election Commission to remove the battery torch from its list of free symbols meant for independent candidates and new political parties. Although the commission did not acquiesce to the party’s demand entirely, it has modified the symbol to look significantly different from AAP’s broom symbol (see pic).

“We realised that the rays of the torch could make the symbol appear similar to AAP’s broom. The modified one does not have light rays, looks slimmer and has a button,” said a senior Election Commission official, who did not wish to be named.
As per AAP’s Pankaj Gupta, the “uncanny similarity” between the two symbols misled voters during Delhi elections, which cost the party a clear mandate in as many as five assembly seats, especially in Janakpuri and Kalkaji. The battery torch symbol was used in 15 assembly seats out of the total 70 in Delhi by independent candidates. The AAP won in 28 seats.

In Jankapuri and Kalkaji, the winning margins were smaller than the votes polled for independent candidates contesting on the battery torch symbol. AAP’s candidates came a close second to those of the BJP in these seats. In Janakpuri, for instance, AAP’s Rajesh Rishi was defeated by the BJP by close to 2,700 votes. The independent candidate polled roughly 4,400 votes. In Kalkaji, Dharmender Kumar, who contested on the torch symbol, polled 3,092 votes. The AAP lost to the BJP there by 2,044 votes.

But this isn’t the first time that the commission has accepted such a demand. Recently it removed the hat symbol from its list of free symbols for Andhra Pradesh at the request of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. TRS leaders felt that the hat symbol could be mistaken for its own, a car. Similarly, the commission removed the road-roller symbol for Haryana to avoid confusion with Haryana Janhit Congress’ tractor symbol.