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The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to restrain the use of body parts as political party symbols, saying that purpose behind the petition seems to stop 'the hand' symbol of Indian National Congress (INC).
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwalaand PS Narasimha said, "What kind of plea is this? No eyes, no nose, no hand can be an election symbol. Dismissed. The intention is only to stop the hand symbol." The petition said that symbols resembling human body parts could potentially violate election rules and claimed that such symbols might be misused during the mandatory 48-hour campaign silence period before voting, as they cannot be easily hidden. The petition sought direction to decide whether ECI can allot human body parts as symbols and whether such allotment violates Article 324 of the Constitution of India, the Representation of the People Act, General Clauses Act and Conduct of Election Rule. The petition filed by Sarguja Society for Fast Justice said that the petitioner, had lodged several complaints against party symbols resembling or identical to parts of the human body to ensure free and fair elections and after the poll panel did not take any action he approached the apex court. (ANI)
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