Samajwadi party's symbol was claimed by both party supremo Mulayam Yadav and son Akhilesh Yadav.
The bitter dispute over control within the first family of Samajwadi Party sees no end in sight as the Election Commission today reserved its order on allotting the party's symbol, which has been claimed by both party supremo Mulayam Yadav and son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
At the meeting, both sides argued for over four hours after which the poll authority said that a judgement will be delivered at the earliest. Mulayam Singh was accompanied by his brother and party's UP chief Shivpal Yadav, while his estranged cousin and Chief Minister's closest confidant Ram Gopal Yadav along with Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Agarwal represented Akhilesh Yadav.
Mulayam Singh, who launched the party 25 years ago, says the party symbol, 'cycle', is part of his legacy. In a major climbdown, he now says that he has no dispute with his son who he has declared as party's chief ministerial candidate.
Representing the Mulayam Singh camp, advocate and former Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, said since there is "no vertical split in the party such as SP (Mulayam) and SP (Akhilesh), the commission lacks jurisdiction to allocate symbol to one of the groups
Unwilling to bend and not showing any signs of a reconciliation, Akhilesh's camp argued that they should be allotted the symbol on the basis of majority support of party lawmakers.
Uttar Pradesh will vote in seven phases starting February 11 which will be a contest between the ruling Samajwadi Party, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, the BJP and the Congress as major players. Votes will be counted on March 11.
The EC may come out with an interim order if it is unable to decide on the case before January 17 when the process of filing nominations for the first phase of UP polls begins.
The side which has the support of majority (50 per cent plus 1) MPs, MLAs, MLCs and delegates is likely to gain an upper hand in the fight to control the party.
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With inputs from PTI)