RE: (IN): No more animals for polls

[Guest guest]

Dear Azam,

 

You may be interested to know that it was Mr. T. N. Seshan who, when he

was the Chief Election Commissioner,

banned the use of animal symbols by political parties following a

representation by the Blue Cross of India and others.

This was in March 1991.

 

The ruling was an outcome of the barbaric cruelty inflicted on hapless

roosters by DMK cadres following the landslide

victory of the DMK as well as the cruelty inflicted on them by the

equally barbaric AIADMK cadres before the polls

in 1989.

 

A news report in The Hindu of March 28, 1991 describes what happened:

 

" If roosters could speak they might tell tales of the agony and torture

they had suffered at the hands of political workers.

 

" The rooster was the poll symbol of one faction of the AIADMK during the

1989 Assembly elections. The sight of party

enthusiasts painting the birds red and black (the party's colours) and

hoisting them atop fast moving vehicles is yet to

be erased from the memory of bird lovers. It was a slow, gruesome death

for the birds.

 

" Their plight was worse once the election results were out. Workers

belonging to the victorious DMK revelled in slaughtering

roosters on public platforms. Some were alleged to have gone to the

extent of dipping the birds into jars full of acid, apparently

to symbolise the cadres' pent up anger against the AIADMK " .

 

A candidate allotted the symbol of the lion in Andhra Pradesh at that

time hired out a lion from a circus. The animal was kept

in a small 3 foot by 3 foot by 6 foot cage for days together in the hot

sun with hardly any food or water.

 

How the AGP, BSP and the Forward Bloc got the elephant and lion symbols

in spite of Mr. Seshan's ruling is a mystery.

 

Please write to the Chief Election Commissioner, Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka

Road, New Delhi 110 001 politely pointing out this

anomaly and requesting him to ask the three parties to change their

symbols.

 

S. Chinny Krishna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aapn [aapn ] On Behalf Of

azam24x7

12 April 2009 22:30

AAPN List

(IN): No more animals for polls

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ptinews. <http://www.ptinews.com/pti>

com/pti\ptisite.nsf/0/2EED377743653A5665257593005D1105?OpenDocument

 

No more animals for polls

 

Archana Jyoti

New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI) Political parties no longer opt for animals as

election symbols but they are not acting solely out of love for the

creatures.

 

Persistent opposition by animal rights activists against cruelty

inflicted to animals and birds during electioneering has led the

Election Commission to ban the allotment of such symbols, replacing

them with inanimate objects.

 

Citing various laws preventing cruelty to animals, the wildlife rights

activists complained that parties were parading these hapless

creatures during campaigns and in turn subjecting them to cruelty.

 

The only exceptions are the lion (Forward Bloc symbol) and the

elephant (Bahujan Samaj Party and Asom Gana Parisad) that are being

used by respective parties. While the BSP is a national party, the All

India Forward Bloc and Asom Gana Parishad are state party from West

Bengal and Assam respectively.

 

And these parties are in no mood to give up their symbols despite

opposition from various quarters.

 

" These are the reserved symbols and were allotted much before the

Election Commission order came banning allotment as emblem, " a senior

official from Delhi electoral office said.

 

In fact politicians have always been keen to use symbols depicting

animals to seek publicity among the voters but in the process

subjected the creatures to torturous treatment. PTI

 

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