Election Commission defers hearing on JD(U) symbol dispute until November 13

The Election Commission (EC) today heard the Janata Dal (United) dispute for election symbol between factions led by Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav and posted the matter for next hearing on November 13.

Javed Raza, a general secretary with the Yadav faction, said Supreme Court lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal argued their case before the full bench of the commission.

However, JD(U) general secretary Sanjay Jha said an overwhelming number of the party's elected leaders and members in the national council have supported Kumar, the Bihar chief minister.

The rift in the JD(U) had widened this August, when Yadav claimed that the "original party" was with him and termed Kumar's joining hands with the BJP as "betrayal of the people's mandate" in Bihar.

The Yadav faction had approached the EC on August 25, staking its claim over the party's election symbol and insisting that a majority of its national council members were with it.

In response, a group of party leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP R C P Singh and JD(U) secretary general K C Tyagi, met the EC in September and submitted affidavits of its leaders and office bearers reposing faith in Kumar's leadership.

They had also demanded that the Yadav faction's application be rejected.