NEW DELHI : Goa’s Congress MP and AICC secretary Shantaram Naik followed up his petition to the Election Commission with a memorandum to the state’s additional chief electoral officer Narayan Navti in Panjim on Wednesday to freeze the BJP’s election symbol of “lotus” for misuse by the state government in violation of the Election Symbols Order, 1968.
He said the ruling BJP and the state government had their hand in getting the same “lotus” selected as the logo of the 2-day BRICS summit to be held in Goa from Saturday to get publicity to its poll symbol in posters across the state at the cost of the exchequer.
Such a publicity at the exchequer’s cost is a clear violation of the Election Symbol Order and hence the BJP’s symbol should be frozen as it would otherwise influence the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state. He said the ruling BJP has played a major role, clandestinely, in getting the BRICS logo selected in an attempt to saffronise the international summit. He asked the Election Commission not only to freeze “lotus” as the BJP’s symbol, but also direct the BRICS authorities to change the lotus as its logo in the interest of free and fair elections.
