Chillies, cauliflower, jackfruit, saw, coat, key, thumb, and even chappals are among the symbols of the Independents contesting the Assembly elections on October 21. Of the 187 symbols available, 139 were allotted to a total of 3,237 candidates.
As per data from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Maharashtra, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates with elephant as symbol are contesting 262 seats of the 288, the highest among all.
It is followed by Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) with 235 candidates who are fighting under the symbol of gas cylinder.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded candidates in 164 seats, the Congress has given tickets to 147 candidates. The Shiv Sena is fighting in 126 seats followed by the Nationalist Congress Party in 121 Assembly segments. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is contesting 101. A little-known party called Bahujan Mukti Party has given tickets to 81 candidates. The Aam Adami Party is fighting in 24 seats. A total of 1,460 independents are contesting election this time.
Along with the VBA, several Independents have opted for gas cylinder resulting in 256 candidates contesting on this symbol.
Among those fighting the polls without a party symbol, the most popular is cup and saucer with 203 candidates fighting on it, followed by 150 fighting on whistle. Autorickshaw, bat, and tractor are also popular among candidates with 115, 93 and 93 candidates respectively.
“Every candidate wants to have a unique but at the same time identifiable symbol which can connect with the voter. Therefore symbols like cup and saucer or whistle are in good demand. There have been cases where two or more candidates sought the same symbol. We had to find a way through mutual agreement in those cases,” an official from the CEO office said.
Interestingly, four candidates have opted for chappals while green chillies, cauliflower and jackfruit have been given to five, nine and one candidate respectively.
