GS Paper II

News Excerpt:

The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) that secured 3.9% and 6.5% votes in Tamil Nadu in 2019 and 2021 respectively, has been allotted a new common symbol (Mike). The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) that secured 1.09% and 0.99% votes in 2019 and 2021 has been denied a common symbol (Pot). This has raised concerns about the allotment of symbols to ‘registered unrecognized parties’.

Who allots election symbols to political parties in India?

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) is responsible for the allotment of symbols. This is done under The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, which is meant “to provide for specification, reservation, choice and allotment of symbols at elections in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies, for the recognition of political parties”
• Symbols can be either reserved, meaning they are exclusive to a recognized political party (having garnered a minimum amount of votes or seats at the national or state level elections), or ‘free’.
• Unrecognized registered parties’ candidates, for instance, can choose from free, non-exclusive symbols. 
• These parties are newly registered or have not secured enough percentage of votes in the Assembly or General elections to fulfill the prescribed criteria to become a state party. 
• After being selected by parties, in subsequent elections, these symbols are declared free again for others to choose.
• Recognized national and state parties get exclusive symbols. 
• For example, when it came to selecting an election symbol for the 1993 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav picked the symbol of a bicycle from the given options, believing it would represent the farmers, the poor, laborers, and the middle class.
• The EC then publishes lists specifying the parties and their symbols through a notification in the Gazette of India. 
• According to its notifications this year, there are six national parties, 26 state parties, and 2,597 registered unrecognized parties.

How did symbols like clock, lotus, hen, etc. enter the EC’s list?

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) used to have symbols sketched by the late MS Sethi, who retired from the ECI in September 1992. 
• He was the last draftsman (someone tasked with sketching and drawing tasks) employed by the nodal body to sketch symbols.
• Sethi and a team of ECI officials would sit together and think of daily objects with which the common man could identify. 
• Many established symbols of political parties — bicycles, elephants, brooms — were born of these sessions, ECI records reveal.
• In the late 1990s, the ECI compiled a collection of 100 sketches into a list, which has the “free” symbols. 
• The list, as of January 2023, now includes objects such as a bowl of noodles, a mobile charger, etc.

Do political parties get to state their preferences?

• The 1968 order mandates the EC to provide for “specification, reservation, choice, and allotment of symbols at parliamentary and assembly elections, for the recognition of political parties”.
• For unregistered parties, they are supposed to give the names of ten symbols, in order of preference, out of the list of free symbols notified by the commission.
• The order also states, “A party may, if it so desires, also propose three new symbols of their choice, with the names and clear design and drawings of symbol, 
• In the order of preference, for allotment to its candidates, which the Commission may consider for allotment as its common symbol if there is, in its opinion, no objection in allotting such symbol.”
• Symbols proposed by the parties should have no resemblance to the existing reserved symbols or free symbols, or any religious or communal connotation, or depict any bird or animal.
• When a recognized political party splits, the Election Commission decides to assign the symbol.
• For instance, the Congress party, in the first elections of 1952, had a pair of bulls as its symbols. Following splits in the party over the years, the current symbol of hand eventually went to the party.
• Recently, the EC allowed the faction of the Shiv Sena to retain the party’s traditional bow and arrow symbol, while the other faction was allotted a flaming torch. 
• The factions had asked for the trident (trishul) and the mace (gada), which were rejected citing religious connotations. Both factions had also wanted the ‘rising sun’, which the EC pointed out was the DMK’s election symbol.

What is the current issue?

• Rule 10B of the Symbols Order provides that the concession of a common free symbol shall be available to a ‘registered unrecognized party’ for two general elections. 
• Furthermore, a party shall be eligible for a common symbol in any subsequent general election if it had secured at least 1% of votes polled in the State on the previous occasion when the party availed of this facility. 
• Such an unrecognized party should however apply for a symbol every time in the prescribed format. 
• This application can be made any time during the period commencing six months prior to the expiry of the term of the Lok Sabha or State Assembly as the case may be. 
• The symbols are thereafter allotted on a ‘first-come-first-served’ basis.
• The NTK had secured more than 1% of votes in the last two elections with the common symbol of ‘Ganna Kisan’. 
• However, since they applied for that symbol only in February 2024, 
• The ECI had allotted that symbol to the Bharatiya Praja Aikyata Party (BPAP), which had applied earlier, based on the ‘first-come-first-served’ rule.
• However, the BPAP has not contested elections in Tamil Nadu before. 
• The VCK was declined allotment of a common symbol as it had failed to secure 1% of votes polled in the elections to the State Legislative Assembly in 2021. 
• The VCK notably has one Lok Sabha MP and four MLAs in Tamil Nadu contesting on the ‘Pot’ symbol in 2019 and 2021 elections.

What do the rules specify?

• The criteria for recognition at the State level consists of 
• (a) winning one Lok Sabha seat for every 25 seats or 3% of Legislative Assembly seats or
• (b) winning one Lok Sabha or two Assembly seats along with 6% of votes polled or 
• (c) securing 8% of votes polled in a general election. 
• Symbols are allotted to political parties and contesting candidates as per the provisions of the Symbols Order by ECI. 
• In the largest democracy where a sizable population is still illiterate, symbols play a crucial role in the voting process. 
• A recognized political party has a reserved symbol that is not allotted to any other candidate in any constituency. 
• For registered but unrecognized political parties, 
• One of the free symbols is allotted as a common symbol during an election if that party contests in two Lok Sabha constituencies or in 5% of seats to the Assembly of a State as the case may be.

 Way Forward:

• The ECI has decided on the applications of NTK and VCK as per existing rules. 
• However, it is counterintuitive from a layman’s perspective that the NTK which secured more than 6% of votes polled is not allotted the previous common symbol of its choice. 
• It would be equally baffling for an average voter that the VCK which has elected representatives is ineligible to obtain a common symbol. 
• The two VCK candidates were eventually allotted the free symbol of ‘Pot’ by the respective returning officers.
• The existing threshold for recognition of a party may continue. The candidates set up by recognized parties enjoy the advantage of being listed at the top of the ballot in the Electronic Voting Machine. 
• Nevertheless, the ECI may consider amending the rules that registered unrecognized parties that secure at least 1% of votes polled in a previous election or have an elected representative in the Lok Sabha or State Assembly, shall have the right to be allotted a common symbol of their choice. 
• This would ensure a fair weightage being given for their past electoral performance and strengthen the democratic process.