EC freezes bigul and tutari symbols after NCP (SP) plaint

EC freezes symbols 'bigul' and 'tutari' allotted to independent candidates after NCP (SP) complaint of confusion among voters in Lok Sabha elections

Mumbai: In a major relief for the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), the Election Commission (EC) has decided to freeze the free symbols – bigul (trumpet) and tutari (turha) – that were allotted to independent candidates during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. An order to this effect was issued by the state election commission on Friday.

EC took the decision was taken in response to a complaint filed by NCP (SP) which claimed that the symbols had created confusion among voters (HT File)

The decision was taken in response to a complaint filed by NCP (SP) which claimed that the symbols had created confusion among voters during the Lok Sabha elections, as the ‘tutari’ was similar to the ‘tutari vajavnara manus’ (man blowing a turha) symbol allotted to it early this year.

“The free symbols bigul (trumpet) and tutari (turha) have been frozen. The changes have been made considering the petition of NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) in the Supreme Court,” said the order issued by Suresh Kakani, secretary, state election commission.

The Sharad Pawar-led party welcomed the development, saying finally, the truth had won. “The election commission has frozen the free symbols ‘tutari’ and ‘bigul’. The NCP (SP)’s fight against attempts to mislead voters by using symbols like ‘tutari’ and ‘bigul’ as ‘tutari vajavnara manus’ has been successful. Now, only the sign of the ‘tutari vajavnara manus’ (man blowing a turha) will be seen on the voting machine!” the party said in a post on social media platform X on Friday.

The election commission had allotted the ‘tutari vajavnara manus’ symbol, which was in the list of free symbols, to the NCP (SP) after the split in the party in July last year. NCP (SP) contested 10 seats under the symbol as part of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi coalition during the Lok Sabha polls. On all the 10 seats, independent candidates sought the trumpet or ‘tutari’ as their election symbol, leading to confusion among voters.

The NCP (SP) complained about the matter in a letter to the election commission dated June 14. It said the allocation of similar symbols resulted in “a loss of votes to the party” during the general elections and added that an independent candidate with the tutari symbol “capitalised” on the “established brand” of NCP (SP) and “managed to secure a substantial number of votes that rightfully should have accrued” to the party.

The letter claimed that the confusion damaged the poll prospects of NCP (SP) candidates. “For instance, Sanjay Gade contested from the Satara Lok Sabha constituency as an independent candidate. He was allotted the tutari as his poll symbol. He secured 37,062 votes whereas NCP (SP) candidate Shashikant Shinde lost the poll to the BJP’s Udayanraje Bhosale by a margin of 32,771 votes,” the letter stated.

Similarly, in the Dindori constituency, independent candidate Babu Bhagare, who contested under the tutari symbol, secured 103,632 votes, whereas the victory margin of NCP (SP) candidate Bhaskar Bhagare was 113,000 votes. Bhagare would have lost had the lead been lower. In the Beed Lok Sabha seat, independent candidate Ashok Thorat, who contested under the tutari symbol, garnered 54,850 votes. NCP (SP) candidate Bajrang Sonwane emerged victorious in the constituency with a margin of 6,553 votes, the letter said.