Even as a delegation of the Nitish Kumar faction of the Janata Dal(U) met the Election Commission on Friday to offer evidence to back their claim for the party symbol, the Sharad Yadav group announced a parallel national executive meeting of the party on September 17.
Each faction has been claiming to be the real JD(U).
JD(U) leaders K.C. Tyagi, R.C.P. Singh, Lallan Singh and Sanjay Jha met the three Election Commissioners, and submitted affidavits of support from MPs, MLAs, MLCs, National Council members and State unit chiefs of the party to stake claim to the symbol.
“We have submitted affidavits of support from all 71 MLAs, all 30 MLCs, seven out of nine Rajya Sabha members, both Lok Sabha members, 143 out of 180 National Council members and 16 out of 22 State unit presidents to the Election Commission,” Mr. Tyagi told The Hindu .
The JD(U) delegation also cited the example of the Samajwadi Party months ago when Akhilesh Yadav got the party symbol despite Mulayam Singh being the party president because most MLAs were with him.
Meanwhile, Mr. Yadav’s faction has announced that it will hold its national executive meet on September 17.
