MNS gets railway engine symbol India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Election Commission of Indian (ECI) has allotted railway engine as the symbol to the Raj Thackeray - led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). The Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi (BVA) and Jan Surya Shakti Party (JSSP) will contest under the symbols of the whistle and the coconut respectively. The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission of India to allot symbols to these parties ahead of the coming assembly polls in Maharashtra. A bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P.Sathasivam passed the order while hearing a petition filed by an MNS member. The MNS is planning to contest about 150 constituencies while the BVA and JSSP are likely to contest 100 seats each in the coming state assembly polls. The apex court said the symbols would be allotted to these parties subject to conditions. The Maharashtra assembly elections will be held on October 13. Polls will also be held in Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana on the same day. The nomination filing process will start from Friday. All three parties are unrecognised parties.