New Delhi:The Election Commission today refused to take cognisance of the Sharad Yadav faction’s claim of being the real Janata Dal-United, citing lack of documents filed by its leaders to back it, an EC official said.
The EC’s decision is a setback to Yadav, who had claimed that the party’s rank and file was with him even though an overwhelming numbers of its elected leaders and office bearers sided with party chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
EC sources said the Yadav faction is free to file another application with documents to effectively buttress its claim, a task that would be difficult for the veteran leader given the kind of support Kumar enjoys in the party.
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The Yadav faction had approached the EC on August 25, staking its claim over the party’s election symbol and insisting that a majority of its national council members were with it.
In response, a group of party leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP R C P Singh and JD-U secretary general K C Tyagi, met the EC last week and submitted affidavits of its leaders and office bearers reposing faith in Kumar’s leadership.
They had also demanded that the Yadav faction’s application be rejected.
Tyagi said they had submitted the affidavits of all the 71 party MLAs and 30 MLCs, two Lok Sabha members and seven of the 10 Rajya Sabha lawmakers of the party, besides office bearers in their support.
