Election symbols are crucial to a party’s identity, and help voters recognise candidates. What is the history of the iconic election symbols of the country’s oldest and largest parties, the Congress’ ‘Hand’, and the BJP’s ‘Lotus’?
Election symbols are a critical component of elections. They are a party’s identity, and help voters recognise candidates. When parties split, a battle is fought for its election symbol. What is the history of the iconic election symbols of the country’s oldest and largest parties, the Congress’ ‘Hand’, and the BJP’s ‘Lotus’?
Before the first Lok Sabha election of 1951-52, the Election Commission of India (ECI) realised that election symbols were critical in a country where the literacy rate was less than 20%. It was decided that symbols should be familiar and easily recognisable, and should not show any object with a religious or sentimental association, such as cow, temple, the National Flag, spinning wheel, etc.
Parties that were recognised as national and state parties, were offered choices from a list of 26 symbols approved by the ECI.
How are election symbols allotted in India?
At present, Rules 5 and 10 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 deal with symbols. Rule 5 states that the ECI shall “specify the symbols that may be chosen by candidates at elections in parliamentary or assembly constituencies and the restrictions to which their choice shall be subject”.
The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 defines a “reserved symbol” as one that is “reserved for a recognised political party for exclusive allotment to [its] contesting candidates”. A “free symbol” is “a symbol other than a reserved symbol”.
Free symbols are allotted to independents and unrecognised registered parties based on their request and preferences.
Symbol of the Congress
Ahead of the first election, the preferred symbol of the Indian National Congress was ‘Plough with Bullocks’, followed by ‘Congress Flag with Charkha’. However, on August 17, 1951, the Congress was allotted ‘Two Bulls (later ‘Bullocks’) with Yoke on’. The ‘Human Hand’, the Congress symbol today, was allotted to the All India Forward Bloc (Ruiker Group).
In 1969, the Congress split into the Congress (O) and Congress (R), where ‘O’, headed by S Nijalingappa, stood for ‘Organisation’ and ‘R’, headed by Jagjivan Ram, for ‘Requisitionists’. On January 11, 1971, the ECI decided that Jagjivan Ram’s Congress, which was supported by Indira Gandhi, was the real Congress.
But the Supreme Court stayed the ECI’s order and ruled that neither group would be entitled to use ‘Two Bullocks with Yoke on’. On January 25, 1971, the ECI allotted ‘Charkha being Plied by Woman’ to the Nijalingappa group, and ‘Calf and Cow’ to the Jagjivan Ram/ Indira group.
Several leaders objected, saying ‘Calf and Cow’ or ‘Gomaata’ was related to religious sentiments, but the ECI overruled these objections.
Calf and Cow to Hand
In the late Seventies, the Indira-Jagjivan Ram Congress split again, and the anti-Indira group was led by Devaraj Urs and K Brahmananda Reddy. On January 2, 1978, Indira was elected president of the Indian National Congress, and she approached ECI to retain ‘Calf and Cow’. After the ECI said no, Indira moved the SC, which refused to interfere and dismissed the petition as withdrawn.
On February 2, 1978, the ECI recognised the Indira group as a national party named Indian National Congress (I) and allotted it the symbol ‘Hand’. In 1979, the ECI froze the symbol ‘Calf and Cow’, and later recognised the Devraj Urs faction as a national party named Indian National Congress (U) with the symbol ‘Charkha’.
The ECI subsequently decided that Congress (I) was in fact the real Indian National Congress. From the 1984 Lok Sabha election onward, Congress (I) became Congress, with the ‘Hand’ election symbol.
BJS to BJP, Lamp to Lotus
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) was allotted ‘Deepak’ (‘Lamp’) as its election symbol on September 7, 1951. The BJS continued to use ‘Lamp’ until it was informally merged with the Janata Party before the 1977 election. Janata was born as an amalgam of four national parties and some unrecognised parties.
But the Janata Party very soon suffered a series of splits. On April 6, 1980, a group of leaders who had earlier been with the BJS met in Delhi and declared Atal Bihari Vajpayee as their leader. Both groups claimed to be the real Janata; however, the ECI ruled that neither could use the name until its final decision.
On April 24, 1980, the ECI froze the Janata Party’s symbol ‘Haldhar within Wheel’, and recognised Vajpayee’s group as a national party under the name of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and allotted it the symbol ‘Lotus’.
Besides ‘Haldhar within Wheel’, the Janata splits resulted in the freezing of four other symbols — ‘Lamp’ (of the erstwhile BJS), ‘Tree’ (of the erstwhile Socialist Party), ‘Woman plying Charkha’ (of the Congress-O), and ‘Farmer Ploughing the Field’ (of the Janata Party-S).