The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission has allotted election symbols to three registered political parties for the state’s upcoming urban and rural local body elections, while setting conditions on their continued access to those symbols and the return of deposits.
State election commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha issued the order in Vijayawada on Friday. The Jayeeta Sama Samajam Party has been allotted the Bat symbol, the Bharatha Chaitanya Yuvajana Party the Battery Torch, and the Rashtriya Praja Congress (Secular) Party the Gas Cylinder symbol.
The SEC said these free symbols would function as common symbols for candidates fielded by the respective parties. However, the symbols may also be allotted to candidates of other parties or independent candidates in constituencies where the three parties do not field their own candidates.
The arrangement applies to the local body elections, which cover the institutions responsible for a range of urban and rural civic functions. The order therefore establishes how the three parties and their candidates will be identified on ballot papers or electronic voting interfaces where applicable, while leaving the symbols available elsewhere under the conditions specified by the commission.
The SEC has also linked the parties’ symbol status to their level of participation. If any of the three parties fails to field candidates in at least 10 per cent of the total seats in the elections, it will forfeit a deposit of ₹1 lakh.
The order does not specify in the supplied report the election schedule, the total number of seats, or the constituencies where the parties plan to contest. Those details will determine the practical reach of the symbol allotments and whether the parties meet the participation threshold set by the commission.
