BSP’s argument demanding ban on cycles and lotus-flower in response to Election Commission’s delayed but justified directive to cover statues of BSP supremo Mayawati and party-symbol elephants is totally senseless. Election Commission has banned statues built only at cost of the exchequer, which were evidently built to popularise state’s ruling party BSP. Moreover Election Commission has not banned Mayawati and real elephants. Therefore it is illogical to compare the ban with moving cycles, actual lotus-flowers or human hands which happen to be election-symbols of other parties. Even statues of elephants at temples and elsewhere built by private bodies are not banned.
Instead it would have been better if sensing spending of public-money on erecting statues of party-symbol elephant, Election Commission would rather have ordered an altogether new election-symbol for BSP. Election Commission’s order can have far reaching consequences of even courts taking cognizance of misuse of huge public-money on erecting statues of herself and her party-symbol by UP Chief Minister Mayawati.
Subhash Chandra Agrawal
Delhi