In a major setback to the Jana Sena led by Pawan Kalyan, the party has lost its election symbol, Glass.The Election Commission, after a periodic review, put Glass in the list of free symbols that can be assigned to anyone.
As a result, Jana Sena may or may not get the same symbol in the coming assembly and parliament elections.This could confuse the supporters of the Jana Sena when they exercise their franchise.
Though Jana Sena party is registered with the ECI and had been allotted Glass as its symbol to contest the 2019 polls, the ECI withdrew this decision in view of the failure of the party to gain the required eight per cent of votes in 2019.It won a single assembly seat, Razole, with a vote share of nearly seven per cent.
Jana Sena political affairs committee chairman Nadendla Manohar said, “We are confident of getting the same party symbol in the coming polls.We are consulting our legal team to find ways to get back the symbol.”
Meanwhile, in the September 2021 notification issued by the CEC, the glass symbol allotted to the Jana Sena Party in the last assembly elections was included in the Free Symbols category.That is, the relevant symbol can be assigned by the Returning Officers as per the rules to the various registered candidates contesting in their constituency as well as to those contesting as independent candidates.
The State Election Commission in the Tirupati Lok Sabha by-elections conducted earlier, the glass tumbler symbol was allotted to an independent candidate.It may be recollected that the Jana Sena Party lost its allotted to it in the GHMC elections held last year, for failing to contest at least 10 percent of the total 150 wards in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
