- (1.) Change in the symbol allotted to the petitioner provides the foundation of the challenge to the election of the respondent Shri Bhajan Lal to the Lok Sabha from the Faridabad Parliamentary Constituency during the recent elections held in November 1989.
(2.) On 2/11/1989, which was the last date for the withdrawal of nominations, the petitioner Sh. Aditya Vesh was allotted the symbol of Swastik within a circle. Unknown to the Returning Officer then was the fact that this was the reserved symbol of the Congress (J) and it could not, therefore, be allotted to any one else. It appears that this error was detected by the Returning Officer two days later, on 4/11/1989 and on that very day, the Election Commission was moved in the matter and an order obtained that the symbol be changed and what is more, on the petitioner's own showing, a message to this effect was also received by him the same day, though it was on 7/11/1989 that he found the formal order posted at the office of his party.
(3.) The picture that thus emerges is that two days after its allotment to the petitioner, the symbol of Swastik within a circle was changed. The petitioner was then given the symbol of woman carrying a basket on her head. It is the case of the petitioner that this change in symbol materially affected his election and that of the returned candidate rendering it thereby illegal and void. The pleadings of the petitioner, in this behalf being to the effect that from the moment the symbol of Swastik within a Circle was allotted to him, he immediately started his election campaign by getting posters printed with this symbol. He also arranged meetings during the course of his canvassing where he declared his symbol to be Swastik within a Circle and therefore, amongst the electors of his constituency, his name was duly associated with the symbol. Next, it was said that during canvassing, his name with this symbol was publicised amongst lakhs of electors. Further, that by the abrupt change of the symbol, his election campaign was gravely affected to his detriment as it put his campaign in suspension and his electors in the dark about the fate of the election.;