In a major setback to Sharad Yadav-led faction of the Janata Dal (United), the Election Commission (EC) on Friday said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led camp of the party would be recognised as the real JD(U), and it could use the party’s arrow symbol. The camp, led by Sharad Yadav, had staked claim to the symbol ever since disagreements crept up between the two leaders in August. The EC in its order said the group led by Nitish had ‘’demonstrated overwhelming majority support in the legislature wing as well as the majority in the National Council of the Party which is the apex level organisational body of the party”. The JD(U) is a recognised State party in Bihar.
Accordingly, it said, ‘’the group led by Nitish Kumar is hereby recognised as the Janata Dal (United)… Consequently, the group led by Nitish Kumar is entitled to use the reserved symbol ‘arrow’ of the party as a recognised State Party in Bihar,” the order reads.
The order follows a month-long tussle between the groups led by Nitish and former JD(U) chief Sharad. The move comes at a time when both factions of JD(U) have announced to field candidates in its erstwhile influence pockets in Gujarat Assembly polls. While the Sharad faction is seeking to forge alliance with the Congress, the Nitish faction has decided to contest on its own.
Nitish faction had this month written to the EC not to allow Arrow symbol to Sharad faction for Gujarat polls.
The EC has also taken note of it saying “in view of the above urgency in the matter on account of the current general election to the Legislative Assembly of Gujarat, which is already in progress since November 14, the Commission passes the following order in the matter”. The order has come after the poll panel conducted the hearing with parties on the petition of lone Guiarat MLA from JD(U) Chhotubhai Vasava, who is working president of the Sharad faction of JD(U).
Nitish and Sharad parted ways after the former decided to join hands with the BJP in July, triggering a battle for the control of the party. Sharad claimed that by ending the alliance with Lalu Prasad’s RJD and deserting the ‘grand alliance’, Nitish had gone against the party’s national executive’s decision to oppose the BJP.
As the rift between the two widened, Sharad held a ‘national executive’ of the JD(U) where Chhotubhai Amarsang Vasava was appointed as the acting president. Vasava approached the Election Commission staking claim over the party and its poll symbol ‘arrow’. Sharad all along maintained that the faction led by him was the real JD(U).
“Both the groups submitted their written submissions and individual affidavits from the members of the legislature wing of the party and from the members of the national council, which is the apex representative body of the party as per the party constitution. The counsel for the petitioner group, former Law Minister Kapil Sibal, contended that the EC should look into the numerical strength of the national council of the party, as constituted in 2013, and which consisted of 1,098 members, and who attended the national convention of the party on 23-04-2016. He stated that the petitioner has submitted affidavits of about 450 persons who are claimed to be members from out of the said 1,098 members,” the order read.
On the other hand, the counsel for the Nitish’s faction advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, contended that the present strength the national council of the Party consists of 195 members as reconstituted on the basis of the organisational elections held in October, 2016.