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Showing contexts for: SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY in Swaraj India vs State Election Commission And Anr on 29 March, 2017Matching Fragments
27. The significance of a symbol when elections are held, was highlighted by the Supreme Court in the case of Subramanian Swamy vs. Election Commission of India reported as (2008) 14 SCC 318. Paras 17 to 22 of the said judgment are apposite and are reproduced below:-
"17. In this backdrop we have to decide this ticklish question of the right of Janata Party to permanently retain its symbol. There can be no doubt that a symbol particularly in case of an established political party is not only having a political implication but has also an emotional angle attached to it. This is apart from the fact that in India, large population of which is rural, uneducated or at time illiterate, such electorate would naturally have a tendency to identify a party or its candidates by its symbols. It is perhaps for this reason that the political parties zealously guard their symbol. But the basic question is whether a political party can be deprived of its symbol under such scenario and would such deprivation amount to an undemocratic step as urged by the appellant. In our opinion though the matter of symbol is extremely sensitive one for a political party, it should be or remain to be firstly a political party.