Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav isn’t just fighting with his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, over who gets to control the Samajwadi Party. They’re also fighting over a cycle. Specifically, the bicycle election symbol that has been associated with the party for years now.
If the father and son actually end up splitting the Samajwadi Party, which seems like a distinct possibility, they will both want control of the cycle logo. These symbols aren’t like America’s elephant and donkey, which actually came out of political cartoons, or the United Kingdom’s party logos that are just branding exercises. In India, political symbols matter because voters will physically be pressing the button next to the logo while voting.
The tradition dates back to the first election in Independent India, in 1951-’52, when the literacy rate in India was a mere 18%. The Election Commission, inspired by an example from Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka, decided to use a system in which voters would not need to read or even make a mark on any ballot paper. Instead, registered voters would be assigned ballots that they would drop into a box with the party symbol on it.
But parties couldn’t just pick their symbols willy-nilly. At the very first meeting to decide on party logos, a number of them demanded the plough, forcing the Election Commission to freeze that logo and add symbol allotment to its many tasks. Since then, it has framed specific rules that govern which logos go to each party.
Recognised national and state parties have reserved symbols that they get to keep from election to election. This is why the Bharatiya Janata Party is known nationwide via its lotus symbol, while the Congress has had an open palm since the 1970s, after a split in the party forced symbol changes twice.
Other parties have to apply before each election hoping to get one that they pick from a list of free symbols. By dint of coming from the Election Commission and needing to be relatively neutral, those free symbols are wonderfully boring and sometimes hilariously mundane.
Today this list contains fairly ordinary everyday objects – and the occasional cricketer. The Congress’ open palm is the only body part allowed now, and only animals that were allocated before – like the Bahujan Samaj Party’s elephant – are now permitted.
That’s because animals rights groups noticed that whenever a party was given an animal as a symbol, there were often instances of those creatures being abused. News reports from the past tell of elephants used as showpieces putting ballots into boxes, a caged tiger travelling around on rallies and even a chicken that was brought to the voting booth where it ended up falling prey to local vultures. That candidate lost.
This seems to have pushed the Election Commission to pick even more ordinary objects as symbols. Who wouldn’t want a carrom board, for example? And you could read plenty into a party that picks a carrot as its symbol.
Some of these were put into the 85-strong list a long time ago, while others are much more recent. How else would you find a dao sword, followed by a diesel pump, a dish antenna and a dolli (palanquin)?
There has over the years, been much discussion over the meanings that these symbols can have, even if they have just been allotted to parties. Sometimes that is deliberate, as with the BJP’s Hindu-inflected lotus or the Trinamool Congress’ grass flowers, drawn by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to reflect her party’s as being from the grassroots, which was then submitted for approval to the Election Commission.
It would be fun to see how a party might try to turn a nail cutter into a popular message, even as one wonders why the Election Commission continues to call its handbag logo a “lady purse”.
Some of these clearly do look like they’ve come from an Election Commission official simply looking around the house for what else might count. Pressure cooker might make some sense, it’s a pretty recognisable item, but how did else would “plate stand” have made its way to this list?
