Chandigarh, March 24
People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal would contest the Lok Sabha elections on hand, the Congress’ symbol, said party insiders.

The PPP’s party symbol is the kite. But as the PPP is only registered as a party with the Election Commission of India and is not a party recognised by the ECI, “hence -- as a registered party -- the PPP doesn’t have a permanent claim over the kite symbol”.

“In case, some candidate contesting the elections from Bathinda demands kite as his symbol at the time of allocation of symbols to candidates belonging to non-recognised parties, the Returning Officer of the constituency can use his discretion to allot kite to that candidate,” said a PPP leader.

“We don’t want to keep the election symbol issue pending till the second week of April when it will be allotted by the Returning Officer,” he said.

Besides the Congress, the CPI and SAD (Longowal-Barnala) have extended support to Manpreet in the Bathinda elections.

To contest the election on the hand, the Congress president will have to issue an authority letter that will have to be submitted to the Returning Officer by Manpreet.

On the authority letter, the Congress will have to declare Manpreet as its candidate and will ask the Returning Officer to allot him the party’s official symbol.

Secretary general of the PPP Gurpreet Singh Bhatti said before taking a final decision about the election symbol, Manpreet would consult members of the central committee of the PPP and also talk to alliance partners -- the CPI and SAD (Longowal-Barnala). Bhatti said that the choice of the symbol would be made in such a manner that not a single vote gets wasted as a result of it.

There is a lot of pressure on Manpreet to accept hand as his symbol. He has interacted at various levels in the constituency. Various Congress supporters said that he should contest using the Congress symbol.

In case, he accepts the hand as his symbol and wins, he will have to abide by the whip issued by the Congress in the Lok Sabha.

“If Manpeet is elected on the Congress symbol, then he will become a member of the Congress parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha and would have to accept all its decisions,” said Bir Devinder Singh, former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

In a way, it would indicate his inclusion in the Congress, he added. In case, he does not accept any decision of the Congress parliamentary party, it would be entitled to take action against him under the anti-defection law, said Bir Devinder Singh.