Advocate Manish Kumar Dwivedi, 31, had never imagined that one day he’d be contesting a Lok Sabha election. But ahead of the second phase, dressed in a kurtapyjama, he was walking around the lanes of UP’s Gautam Buddh Nagar, greeting people with folded hands. His supporters handed out pamphlets bearing his photograph and a symbol: the humble chai kettle.
For the last two years, Dwivedi was part of a social campaign that voiced the concerns of small businessmen and entrepreneurs who were trapped in debt as a result of Covid lockdowns. “While big corporations often get debt waivers, there are small people who are getting no relief as they struggle to pay back bank loans and credit card bills. Who will speak for them?” Dwivedi asked.
In order to push for a waiver and extension of time for repayments, Dwivedi and his team wrote to multiple political parties and MPs, but no one responded, he says. That’s when the group decided to enter the arena of politics. In fact, the Akhil Bharatiya Parivar Party had plans to contest all the 543 seats. All of them are first-time contenders, and come from various walks of life. The idea of the symbol, he pointed out, was crowdsourced as they asked people for suggestions. It not only represented a symbol of livelihood, but also was a barb at PM Modi’s ‘chaiwallah’ image, he said. “The symbol was a way of saying: hamein sirf chai nahi chahiye, poori ketli chahiye (we don’t want just the tea, we want the whole kettle).”
The chai kettle is one of the many symbols that have been adopted by candidates like Dwivedi in the ongoing elections. From daily household items that the aam aadmi uses in kitchens to aspirational gear and gadgets, they’re all in the fray. And while they were first introduced to reach out to the people at a time when the literacy rate stood at a mere 16%, they’re still as relevant, with party factions even going to court to claim them after a split.
Unlike recognised political parties, Independent candidates choose from a list of ‘free’ symbols that the Election Commission updates frequently. These include the likes of grapes, dumbbells, vacuum cleaners, batter, and more. In fact, for decades, they’ve been drawn by one person. Draftsman M S Sethi was hired by the ballot committee back in 1950 and retired in 1992. Armed with an HB pencil and paper, over the years, he doodled the images, which became the mainstay of Indian elections. While he passed away in the 2000s, his drawings continue to find their way to voting machines, posters, and households.
The symbols themselves might be minimalistic and resemble hand-drawn sketches, the narratives behind them are much more complex.
For lawyer Yusuf Ali Khan, contesting from Rajasthan’s Churu, choosing a ‘baby walker’ as a symbol was about making a point. “In Marwari, we call it ‘rerula’, and it represents something using which a baby learns to walk. Similarly, I want to help my community walk on its own feet,” Khan says.
Khan, who contested the 2003 and 2008 assembly elections, says he had no plans to contest the Lok Sabha polls. Then, he heard that Congress had not fielded a single Muslim candidate in Rajasthan.
“We are 9% of the state’s population, but have no voice. I want to change that,” Khan points out, adding that increasing access to education and scholarship opportunities are his topmost priority.
Meanwhile, social worker Niranjan Singh Rathore is using his ‘belt’ symbol to tell people in Taranagar about his intentions. “Koi bhi kaam karne se pehle, kamar kasni padti hai. We need a belt for that,” he says.
Belonging to a Scheduled Tribe, he says that while govts have come and gone, the benefits of social justice reforms and reservations still haven’t reached certain regions and sections. Armed with data that shows the lack of representation, he is going door to door, telling people to buckle up and demand change. These polls will be his ‘first and last’ election, Rathore says.
Some are going out of their way to make sure the public doesn’t forget the symbol on the day of voting. In a move that grabbed many eyeballs, Aligarh’s Pandit Keshav Dev walked around in his constituency wearing a garland of slippers, his chosen symbol.
Chennai South’s V Sivakumar, contesting on the symbol of dumbbells, hasn’t attempted anything similar yet. And for Lakhimpur’s Deba Nath Pait, it might be nearly impossible to parade with a ‘fountain’. But as they say, elections can spring many surprises.
Ban on animals as party symbols
Animals and birds were banned as election symbols by EC in 1991, following protests by multiple activists. This was because parties often paraded the animals in rallies, painted them with slogans, or even slaughtered them to oppose the party in question. The only exceptions to this today are the elephant (BSP), the lion (MGP) and the rooster (Naga People’s Front).