JD(U) gets ‘farmer driving a tractor’ symbol in Jharkhand

The Janata Dal (United) will contest the assembly elections in Jharkhand on ‘farmer driving a tractor’ symbol instead of its own arrow emblem.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday allotted the ‘farmer driving a tractor’ symbol to the JD(U) after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which had a similar symbol, lodged a complaint for the state’s polls.

The party headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar will fight the assembly polls in Maharashtra with ‘diesel pump’ as its election symbol. The ECI issued an order for allotment of symbols to four registered unrecognised parties in four states — Jharkhand, Haryana, Maharashtra and New Delhi — going to polls later this year.

The JD(U) has decided to contest the assembly polls in Jharkhand and Maharashtra on its own. Both the states are considered the bastion of the BJP. A major controversy has erupted after the captaincy of NDA in Bihar after Kumar attacked the BJP dispensation in Jharkhand and blamed it for backwardness of the state.

The party has won seven seats in Arunachal Pradesh and got ambitious to enlarge its footprint in other states. The party chief is banking on its national vice-president and poll strategist Prashant Kishore to win a few seats in Jharkhand.

Recently, it had roped in former BJP MP from Mayurbhanj Salkhan Murmu as Jharkhand unit chief of the party to spearhead the electioneering there.

First Published: Sep 14, 2019 05:12 IST