NEW DELHI: What's in an election symbol? A lot. In the polling booth, the voter doesn't see the face of the candidate or his name but only the election symbol. It alone represents the candidate and the party he stands for.
Election symbols were introduced in the first
general
elections to reach out to the general public, especially to those who are illiterate. Interestingly, the two largest national parties-BJP and Congress- have changed their election symbols
thrice
since then.
Between 1952 and 1969, the Congress was represented by a pair of bullocks carrying a yoke. But when
Indira Gandhi launched her own faction-INC (R) after being expelled from party by then Congress party president S. Nijalingappa, it was represented by a new election symbol-a cow with sucking calf. On the other hand, the "Old Congress" ( which had the support of only a few MPs), retained the party symbol of a pair of bullocks carrying a yoke. The party's current election symbol was used by Indira Gandhi for the first time when she split from the Congress (R) faction following 1977 elections and created the new Congress (I).
The election symbol of the BJP, too, has changed over the years. From 1951 to 1977, the BJP (erstwhile
Bharatiya Jana Sangh
) had oil lamp as its election symbol. In 1977, when it merged with other political parties to form Janata Party, it chose a farmer and plough symbol to represent it. Three years later, when the Janata party dissolved and the BJP was formed, lotus was adopted as its election symbol.