Political Diary

The Election Commission has once again rejected the appeal of Chiranjeevi’s Praja Rajyam for a common symbol for the elections.Sources said a six-page letter explaining the reasons for the rej-ection had be-en sent to the Chief Electi-on Offi-cer in Hydera-bad to be forwarded to the party. EC officials refu-sed to comment.The EC has said only recognised political parties are eligible for a permanent symbol while registered parties will have to choose from the ”free symbols” available.

In Hyderabad, the Praja Rajyam spokesperson, Mr Parakala Prabhakar said the party would move the Supreme Court for the symbol. He said, however, that the party had not received the communication from the Election Commission.There is no proposal to approach any party for its symbol. “We know it cannot be done. It was a crazy idea floated by someone, we are not responsible for that,” he said.