Lok Sabha Elections: NCP Raises Concerns Over Election Symbol Similarity in Baramati, Seeks ECI Intervention

Alleged Symbol Confusion Sparks Dispute Ahead of Baramati Lok Sabha Polls. NCP leader Sharadchandra Pawar has raised a complaint with the ECI over the same issue. 

24 April 2024

By Payoshi Bisht

The Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharadchandra Pawar has raised a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the symbol of a trumpet-like instrument being allotted to an independent candidate contesting from Baramati. 

The candidate is identified as Shaikh Soyalshah Yunusshah who hails from Kasar Shirur, Beed district. The instrument has been identified as a ‘tutari’. The ECI has allotted the symbol as a man blowing a turha or a traditional trumpet as the symbol for the NCP(SP). 

This has been taken up by Laxmikant Khabiya, the poll representative of the party’s candidate, Supriya Sule, stating that the similarity in two names can result in confusion among voters. Khabiya lodged a complaint on 20th April. 

The party officials have requested that the instrument be called trumpet. In Marathi, it cannot be called ‘tutari’. Therefore, they have requested the ECI to call the symbol ‘trumpet’ instead of ‘tutari’. It holds historical significance as it was used to mark the entry of important persons, ranging from kings earlier to political leaders now.

Shaikh said that he filed a nomination to represent sugarcane cutter workers and the election commission had validated the trumpet symbol earlier. The poll officers asked him to ignore objections as the ECI had agreed to the election symbol. 

Sule states that they had written to the ECI to not do injustice to their party and Shaikh bhai, who is an independent candidate. They have no details about Shaikh but they welcome him to the elections. Baramati is planning to contest polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls on 7th May.

Baramati Lok Sabha constituency has 38 candidates including prominent NCP (SCP) leader Sachin Dodke. Supriya Sule, Sunetra Pawar and Priyadarshini Kokre of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are the main candidates in the poll battle. Baramati is home to the Pawar family. Sharad Pawar’s daughter Sule has represented the seat on three occasions and is up for re-election in 2022. Sule faces NCP candidate Sunetra, Ajit Pawar’s wife.