Who gets ‘cycle’ symbol, Akhilesh Yadav or Mulayam Singh Yadav? Here’s how EC will decide

New Delhi, Jan 3: A day after Mulayam Singh Yadav was toppled as party president by his son Akhilesh Yadav, he took the Samajwadi Party feud to the Election Commission (EC) to claim the ‘cycle’ symbol. Cycle symbol is ours,” asserted Mulayam and asked his party members to focus on the assembly elections.

Mulayam added, “No one can accuse me of wrongdoing. I have never indulged in corruption or betrayed anyone. Cycle symbol is ours.” He also said that he is still the party president and hence, entitled to the symbol.
It has been reported that Ram Gopal Yadav might represent Akhilesh Yadav when he stakes claim to the symbol and takes the issue with the EC on Tuesday, January 3.

It has also been reported by the sources that the symbol might be assigned to the faction “that has the support of the majority of legislators as well as parliamentary board members.” The claim to the cycle symbol has to be backed by signatures to the poll panel.

Now that the Assembly elections are just around the corner, the EC might decide on freezing the symbol and both the parties might have to pick up new symbols and party names. But before that to happen, the split in the party has to get confirmed.

This might also affect the fate of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh since as per a 2011 literacy rate census, Uttar Pradesh is the 8th lowest literacy rate in India. With a large chunk of people still depending on party names and symbols to vote, taking up a new symbol and party name will highly influence the future of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.

How does EC decide?
If the split is in a registered but unrecognised party, the EC typically counsels the warring divisions to resolve their differences internally or to approach the court. EC might also ask the warring factions to pick up other symbols and names for the respective parties. The first case on such matter was of the Congress split case, in which the EC had suspended the symbol and given two separate symbols to the two groups.

In Samajwadi Party case, the Commission will have to undertake the process of the ‘Rule of Majority and Numerical Strength’ envisaged in Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, the first task of which is to determine if the warring factions really are the two rival groups within a party.
Once the Commission is satisfied that there does exist two warring factions, the body would “take into account all the available facts and circumstances of the case” and listen to the representatives of the two groups. It will then decide which one of the rival faction (or none) is the recognised political party. Now that the Assembly elections are about to take place, EC might also end up freezing the original symbol and the two parties to choose separate symbols and party names.

“The symbol is not a property to be divided between co-owners. The allotment of a symbol to the candidates set up by a political party is a legal right. And in case of a split, the Commission has been authorised to determine which of the rival groups or section is the party entitled to the symbol. The Commission, in resolving this dispute, does not decide as to which group represents the party, but which group is that party,” a three-judge Supreme Court Bench of Justices H.R. Khanna, K.S. Hegde and A.N. Grover clarified the purpose of Paragraph 15.