Congress hails EC for granting Akhilesh the 'cycle' ride

January 16, 2017 20:37

The Congress today hailed as "judicious" the Election Commission's decision to grant the 'cycle' symbol to the Akhilesh Yadav faction of the Samajwadi Party ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

"We congratulate Akhilesh on being allotted the cycle symbol. The Election Commission has taken a judicious decision in record time," Congress spokesman R P N Singh said, adding the UP Chief Minister had 90 per cent of the party including legislators on his side.

The Congress and the Akhilesh-led faction are busy stitching up a grand secular alliance in the state in an apparent bid to prevent the BJP from coming to power in the politically key state.

In a major boost to UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, the EC recognised the faction headed by him as the SP and alloted the reserved symbol 'Bicycle' to it for contesting the coming assembly elections. The verdict comes a day ahead of the start of the filing of nominations in the seven-phased polls in the state beginning on February 1.

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