‘Road roller’ to ‘baby stroller’: Symbol war, but not symbolic, for Telangana contestant

Kumar says he is committed to the protection of cows and has dedicated much of his life to it. He runs the Gau Maha Kshetram, a large cow shelter near Batasingaram on the outskirts of Hyderabad near Ramoji Film City, where at least 1,000 cows are sheltered. “These are mostly cows rescued from going to slaughter houses,” he said. In 2016, Shiva Kumar, a businessman, agriculturist and social worker, founded the Yuga Thulasi Party for the sole purpose of promoting cow protection and thulasi (holy basil). “I’m campaigning to get the cow declared as our national animal and full protection given to it. This is my sole ambition,’’ he said. On March 6 this year, he filed papers seeking recognition for his party with the ECI, which approved it on September 14.

Kumar was allotted the “road roller” symbol on October 17. It is one of the eight that the ruling TRS is opposing, saying that on EVMs and ballot papers, they resemble the TRS’s car symbol and can leave the voters confused. In spite of protests and objections by the TRS, the EC allotted the symbol to Kumar. The Telangana high court also dismissed a TRS petition to remove the symbol, saying it cannot interfere in the EC process of symbol allocation. However, on October 19, the returning officer of Munugode Assembly constituency, Jagannath Rao, cancelled the allocation of the symbol to Shiva Kumar without informing anyone, and allotted the “baby stroller” symbol. “He did it surreptitiously late at night without consulting others. He did it under pressure from the TRS,” Kumar alleged, and lodged a strong complaint with ECI. He has also filed a petition in the Telangana HC. The EC took serious note of the complaint, removed Rao and restored the symbol to Shiva Kumar on Thursday.

Kumar says TRS legislators camping at Munugode put a lot of pressure on him to withdraw from the contest but he has refused to budge.