The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Election Commission and Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s party Praja Rajyam on the poll body’s decision to allot the rail engine symbol to the southern party.
A Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam sought response from the Election Commission on a petition filed by Rashtriya Krantikari Samajwadi Party (RKSP).
In its petition, the RKSP claimed it was an unrecognized national party with influence in states like Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jharkhand, J&K, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka besides Andhra Pradesh and most of its candidates had been fighting the earlier elections on the rail engine symbol.
The party claimed since its candidates were already using the symbol, the same cannot be alloted to Praja Rajyam.
The EC has alloted the rail engine symbol to Praja Rajyam on the directions of the apex court which had clarified that the allotment of the symbol would only be restricted to the present election.