Kolkata, Sep 30 (IANS): A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the All India Secular Front (AISF) to restore the party’s “envelope” symbol, dealing a setback ahead of the upcoming bypolls in the state.
Justice Krishna Rao had reserved the judgment after hearing the matter on September 28.
In his judgment, Justice Rao observed that the court did not intend to interfere in the forthcoming bypolls in two assembly constituencies in West Bengal scheduled for next month and hence declined to grant relief to the petitioner.
Nandigram Assembly Constituency in East Midnapore district and Rejinagar Assembly Constituency in Murshidabad district are going for bypolls on October 6, and the counting will be on October 9. AISF had fielded a candidate from Nandigram.
AISF legislator Nawsad Siddique, the party’s lone representative in the West Bengal Assembly, challenged the ECI’s decision, arguing that he had successfully contested and won the Bhangar Assembly seat in both 2021 and 2026 on the ‘envelope’ symbol and that there was no justification for its withdrawal.
Earlier this month, the Election Commission of India (ECI) allotted the “envelope” symbol to the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction of Trinamool Congress, which was also allotted the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress”.
AISF has been allotted the “almirah” symbol this time.
Siddique approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the decision. He contended that there was no reason for withdrawal of the “envelope” symbol when he contested and got elected on that symbol from the Bhangar Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district twice, first in 2021 and then in 2026.
On the other hand, the ECI counsel gave a counterargument that “envelope” was a free symbol and unrecognised political parties like AISF do not have a permanent right to a specific reserved symbol.
Now, with the Calcutta High Court dismissing the petition, AISF has no choice but to contest the Nandigram bypoll on the “almirah” symbol.
During an earlier hearing, Justice Rao had observed that the controversy might have been avoided had the ECI opted to freeze the ‘envelope’ symbol instead of reallocating it. However, the court ultimately chose not to interfere with the poll process.
