JD(U) proposes 'farmer driving tractor' poll symbol in J'khand

The Janata Dal (United) has proposed 'a farmer driving a tractor' as its new election symbol in Jharkhand, after the Election Commission barred the Nitish Kumar-led party from using the 'arrow' symbol.

The poll panel had issued the order last month in response to an application filed by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) which pointed to the similarity of its own party symbol 'bow and arrow' with that of the JD(U)'s 'arrow'.

"We have proposed to the ECI 'a farmer driving a tractor' as our new symbol for Jharkhand," JD(U) state unit president Salkhan Murmu said on Friday.

Jharkhand is scheduled to go to polls later this year.

Murmu also said that the JMM had filed the application in retaliation to the JD(U)'s move to get the Shibu Soren-led party symbol scrapped in Bihar.

To persistent queries on a possible alliance in the state, he said the JD(U) is likely to go it alone in the Assembly elections.

"The party's executive committee meeting on June 9 had decided that the JD(U) will contest assembly polls on its own in Jharkhand, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir (then a state) and Delhi," Murmu told reporters here.

Contending that the party is preparing to contest all 81 seats in Jharkhand, the JD(U) state chief said "tickets would be given to winnable candidates".