Election Commission turns down NCP-SP demand to freeze trumpet symbol

The Election Commission agreed to NCP (Sharad Pawar)’s request for prominent display of its poll symbol, a man blowing ‘turha’, on EVMs but denied the demand to freeze the trumpet symbol. The commission accepted the NCP-SP’s suggestion on how to display their symbol on the ballot unit. However, they refused to remove the trumpet symbol from the list, stating it was different from the ‘man blowing turha’. The NCP-SP argued that the similar symbols caused confusion among voters in previous elections, citing an Independent candidate who polled more votes than the margin of victory in a constituency.