Allahabad HC issues notice to AAP on 'jhaadu' symbol

The Allahabad High Court Thursday issued notice to the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) on a petition filed over the 'jhaadu' (broom) election symbol.

The Lucknow bench of Justice Rajeev Sharma and Justice Mahendra Dayal gave three weeks' time to respond to the petition filed by the Naitik Party that claimed the election symbol was initially allotted to it and that it had contested the 2012 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on it.

Pleading that the symbol be given to it for the April-May 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Naitik Party lawyer Chandra Bhushan Pandey told the court that the allotment of the broom symbol to the Aam Aadmi Party was against ECI norms and guidelines.

"We will not let AAP usurp which is rightfully our symbol," he told IANS.

Naitik Party had filed a petition before the high court last week against the allotment of the broom symbol to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the case will come up for hearing after four weeks.