Calcutta High Court questions Election Commission's reassignment of ISF's party symbol

A bench led by Justice Krishna Rao of the Calcutta High Court heard the Indian Secular Front’s petition contesting the Election Commission of India's decision to transfer the party’s “envelop” symbol to the Democratic Trinamool Congress for the October 6 assembly by-polls. The ISF claimed the symbol had been allotted to it in March and was later replaced by an “almirah” symbol, while the commission reassigned the original symbol to the DTC.

The court questioned the rationale for assigning a disputed symbol to a new party without considering the ISF’s pending application and raised concerns about possible collusion between the poll body and the DTC. ECI counsel Jishnu Chowdhury argued that symbol allocation is discretionary, governed by the Symbols Order and Conduct of Election Rules, and that general-election symbols become free for by-polls. Advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya contended that such discretion must be exercised reasonably, not autocratically. The bench emphasized that authorities should act fairly to avoid future litigation, and the hearing concluded with the court reserving its order.