The Election Commission on Friday reserved its order on the ownership of Samajwadi Party (SP) cycle symbol after hours of deliberation with the party leaders from rival camps like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav and Naresh Aggarwal.
Two camps in Samajwadi Party, one led by the party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal Yadav, and the other led by UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Ram Gopal Yadav, have been fighting for the party's cycle symbol after a rift broke out in the party ahead of next month's state assembly elections.
[READ: Mulayam says Akhilesh will be next CM of UP]
Mulayam Singh Yadav has been pushed to the backseat of late by his son Akhilesh Yadav who claims to have good support of the party leaders and workers. Akhilesh was made the SP's national president at a convention on New Year day. So, Mulayam is fighting for both for the party's president post and the cycle symbol that he had chosen when he formed the party 25 years ago.
Ram Gopal, who represented the Akhilesh camp during the hearing at the EC's office in Delhi, submitted affidavits of MLAs, MPs and MLCs to prove their allegiance to the CM. Mulayam on the other hand expressed his wish to keep the party united and that he remains the national party president.
The EC was called in to decide who gets the "cycle' symbol after Mulayam and his so Akhilesh failed to resolve their differences.
UP will go to elections next month and nominations for the first phase will start on January 17. Elections will be held in seven phases starting February 11 and vote counting will be done on March 11.
