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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

EC freezes party name UKD, symbol chair

Nainital, December 28
In a decision that would have far-reaching ramifications in the ensuing polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has come out with an interim order on the conflict between the two factions of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) on the issue of recognition and granting of the party symbol of the chair.
While both the factions led by Trivendra Singh Panwar and Diwakar Bhatt have been granted the interim status of state parties, the party name, the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, and the symbol of the chair have been frozen till further orders of the commission.
The two factions have been asked to choose separate names for themselves and apprise the commission of the same within the next seven days.
“It would be open to the two groups to use the name of the mother party with separate appellations/suffixes, but different from the names of other existing parties” the ECI order states.
The two groups have also been told to indicate the choice of symbol to be allotted to them as their reserved symbol till the time they enjoy the interim recognition as state parties. The choice of symbol is to be relayed to the ECI within the next seven days.
The ECI has also called for the list of their respective office- bearers. Meanwhile, the time allocated in the name of the UKD on Doordarshan and All India Radio for propagating the viewpoints of the party will now be divided equally between the two groups.
After the hearing to held on Thursday, the Commission stated: “This, in the commission’s view, will be in the interest of equity and fair play and will meet the ends of justice, in the circumstances of the case.”
The CEC, Dr SY Quraishi, along with the two ECs HS Brahma and VS Sampath had taken up the petition for hearing that had been filed by the Panwar group.
The decision is likely to have a huge impact on the party leadership.
With the very name of UKD being frozen for now, it will be the party leaders who would have to make a fight of their contests merely on the basis of their personal reputations and hold.
Both factions demoralised 

Dehradun December 28
The decision of the Election Commission of India to freeze the ‘chair’ symbol of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) has dampened the spirits of members of both the factions, who fought over it after they split up last year. One faction, the UKD (P), is led by party president Trivender Singh Panwar, and the other faction, the UKD (D), by Diwakar Bhatt, state minister.

Satish Semwal, spokesperson, UKD (D), said they got the symbol by dint of the diligence and dedication put up by party activists for many years. “We have lost credibility before the public by losing our party symbol. It is all due to the immaturity and obduracy shown by Trivender Singh Panwar that we lost the symbol, which we had achieved because of the hard work of our activists.”
Though it has been an interim order, both the factions are considering it final. “As per the Election Commission of India, we need four MLAs and 8% votes to claim the party symbol, which none of us is in a position to do so at the moment. So we are taking this decision as final,” he added.
Party’s two MLAs, Diwakar Bhatt and Om Gopal, are with the UKD (D) and the third, Pushpesh Tripathi, with the UKD (P).
Trivender Singh Panwar, president of other faction, blamed the Congress and the BJP for the decision. He said: “This is the handiwork of the BJP and the Congress that we have lost the symbol. The Congress has influenced the Election Commission in divesting us of our symbol. But we will apply for a new symbol and go among people with an invigorated spirit.”
Sadly, his party mates do not think on the same lines. They are stunned over the decision. Promila Rawat, president of the women’s wing of the UKD (P), said the members felt cheated by the Election Commission of India and demoralised by the decision. “It is sad the Election Commission of India did not recognise us as the regional party though we had been fighting hard in the public on several issues concerning people but it all seemed wasted now.”
NK Gusain, district president, said all was not lost as yet as they would take up the new symbol among the people by using swiftness of the Internet and mobile phones.
It was on November 27 last year that Trivender Singh Panwar, president of the then combined UKD, withdrew support to the state government, but when the party’s member, Diwakar Bhatt, did not resign from his position as minister in the state government, Panwar expelled Bhatt on January 1 this year for lifetime. After the division, some of the senior leaders and members from the Panwar camp shifted to the Bhatt camp. Bhatt constituted a new working committee and got himself appointed as the president of the party and claimed his party was the real UKD. Both went to first state EC and then to the ECI to claim the party symbol.

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