Samajwadi Party feud: Mulayam faction to submit affidavits to EC today to claim election symbol 'cycle'

New Delhi: Mulayam Singh Yadav will reach the Election Commission office today to provide signed affidavits of legislators and office bearers to claim control over the party's name and symbol.

1. The side which has the support of majority (50 per cent plus 1) MPs, MLAs, MLCs and delegates will gain an upper hand in the fight to control the party founded 25 years ago.
2. The Mulayam camp is likely to submit its set of affidavits today, the deadline set by EC for both the sides to submit documents before it decides on which side to be allotted the 'cycle' symbol after the split in SP was formalised on January 3.
3. Just like Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav will today submit to the Election Commission affidavits which will claim to have signatures of legislators and delegates that favour the party supremo.
4. After the split in the party, the factions led by Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh had approached the Commission staking claim over the party and the symbol.
5. The Akhilesh Yadav faction on January 7 submitted to the Election Commission affidavits which claimed to have signatures of "90 per cent" of legislators and delegates, including over 200 of the 229 MLAs and 56 of 68 MLCs.
6. The Akhilesh faction's documents were submitted by his loyalist uncle Ramgopal in copies of seven as asked by the poll panel.
7. He claimed a set was sent to Mulayam Singh Yadav at his Delhi residence but he refused to acknowledge the receipt. "Now, it will be sent to his Lucknow address," Ramgopal said.
8. Notably, cycle, the symbol of Samajwadi Party, faces the threat of being frozen before the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls if the Election Commission is not able to decide which of the two factions of the party commands majority in the organisation.
9. Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday said he remains the party President and Akhilesh Yadav was only the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
10. "I am the National President of SP and Akhilesh is the Chief Minister of UP," Mulayam Singh told the media here.
11. He added that the decision taken by Akhilesh supporters to replace him by the Chief Minister as the party chief was null and void.
12. Akhilesh Yadav continued to be the Chief Minister, he added, in a matter-of-fact statement that he did not recognize his son as the party boss that he (Akhilesh) claims to be.
13. Mulayam Singh also said Ram Gopal Yadav had been expelled from the Samajwadi Party and hence he had no right to call the national convention where Akhilesh Yadav replaced him (Mulayam) as the party chief.
14. On January 1, the Akhilesh faction dislodged Mulayam Singh as the party President and designated the former Chief Minister and ex-Defence Minister as the "marg darshak" (mentor).
15. Since then, both factions of the Samajwadi Party have approached the Election Commission to claim the election symbol "cycle" ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.