Poll body considers allotting whistle symbol to Maharashtra party for elections

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday said that it would consider the allotment of the whistle symbol to Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), led by Vasai MLA Hitendra Thakur, for the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
The poll body’s remark came during a hearing of a BVA petition at the Bombay High Court.
The poll body had allotted the whistle symbol to the Janta Dal (United) in January this year. In the 2024 general elections, a BVA candidate contested the polls on the whistle symbol from the Palghar Lok Sabha seat as the JD(U) did not have a candidate.
Despite its request in August to contest the November 30 Assembly elections under the whistle symbol, the poll body had not allotted it to the BVA.
Senior lawyer, Akshay Shinde, representing the ECI, said that the JD(U) had surrendered the whistle symbol and a letter confirming the move was received by the poll body on October 30.
He told a bench of Justices Arif Doctor and Somsekhar Sundaresan that with the JD(U) surrendering its claim, it was now a free symbol.
In response, the bench said since the BVA had applied for the whistle symbol as per guidelines, it would be allotted to the party after following due process.
The BVA, which backs the Mahayuti alliance, has three MLAs in the Vasai, Nalasopara, and Boisar seats of Palghar district.
For the Assembly polls, it has fielded candidates in five of six Assembly segments within the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency.
Hitendra Thakur is contesting from Vasai, while his son Kshitij is standing from Nalasopara, and sitting MLA Rajesh Patil from Boisar.