What's in a Symbol: How Other Party Logos' Fortunes Changed Over Time

With the schedule of Assembly elections declared by Election Commission in 5 states, we trace the journey of election symbol of various parties.

Congress: Since independence, congress contested 4 general election under the symbol do bailon ki jodi (two bullocks with a yoke on)

1969: Indira Gandhi split the party to present a more progressive face. her party was called congress ® while the small remainder was congress (o)

- The symbol was claimed by both and hence frozen

- Indira Gandhi chose a similar looking symbol, Gai Bachada(cow and calf), and swept the 1971 general elections

1977: After emergency was lifted and gandhi lost the election, congress once again split

- Gandhi named her faction Congress (i). After much deliberation she chose the hand symbol, rejecting bicycle and elephant, which were later adopted by the Samajwadi Party (in 1992) and Bahujan Samaj Party (in 1984), respectively

Janata Party

Election symbol

Chakra haldar (man carrying plough within a wheel)

1977: The newly-formed JP won the lok sabha election; Morarji Desai became PM

1979: Suffered series of splits after 1979 but symbol continued with more and more small factions

- symbol inherited by Subramanian Swamy-leb janta party

- other janta party factions regrouped as janata dal but had to go with symbol chakra (wheel)

1991: Swamy let Samajwadi Janta Dal, led by Chandra Shekhar, use the symbol in the general elections

2013: Janata Party merged with BJP. The symbol is now free