Kerala Congress gets ‘autorickshaw’ as official election symbol

The Election Commission of India has recognised Kerala Congress as a State party and allotted autorickshaw symbol to it.

Party chairman and MLA P.J. Joseph confirmed that the recognition came in the wake of the party’s performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Kerala Congress, a key ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), had been functioning without an official symbol after the Election Commission of India awarded the ‘two leaves’ symbol to the Jose K. Mani-led Kerala Congress (M) faction.

In the previous Lok Sabha polls, Kerala Congress candidate K. Francis George contested from Kottayam using the autorickshaw symbol and won. Following this success, the party decided to adopt the symbol as its own.

The dispute over the party’s official symbol dates back to the Pala by-election in September 2019. Triggered by the death of veteran legislator and KC(M) chairman K.M. Mani, the by-election led to a major rift within the party, splitting it into factions led by Jose K. Mani and P.J. Joseph. During the poll, Mr. Joseph declined to allocate the party symbol to Jose Tom Pulikkunnel, the Mani group’s candidate. As a result, Mr. Pulikkunnel had to contest as a UDF-backed Independent, with the ‘pineapple’ symbol.

The symbol dispute was taken to the Election Commission of India and dragged on through a legal battle, before finally being resolved in favour of the current arrangement.