5 min readMay 22, 2023

INDIAN ELECTION AND ITS SYMBOL DESIGNS some thoughts and questions.

Some of the election's symbols shown here as an example GIF

India is a huge and diverse democratic country and it’s elections are no less than Festival/मेला।

(We will not discuss politics in this article, and will concentrate on User Experience and Design part)

This post or let’s say thoughts were whirling in my mind for quite some time. Finally I sit down did a basic secondary research on the topic with a set of questions which occurred in my curious mind.

So the format of this post will be question as a heading then findings through generative Copilot search results summarised in my words.

Still illustrations of symbols used in Indian Elections.

Election Commission’s which department designs/illustrate or selects symbols for Election Commission’s repository?

I could not find any specific information on Election Commission’s Design Department or illustration repository.

According to official webpage information:

A small portion cropped from the manual or booklet to show the Indian Election Commission’s Logo and motto tagline.

In India, it is the Election Commission of India (ECI) that assigns symbols to political parties. The ECI keeps a list of election symbols that parties can choose from.

Election Symbol allotted to the National Parties ( parties who have pan India presence)

The symbols are allotted to parties by the Election Commission of India. The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968 is the law governing the use of these symbols.

Example of Election symbols provided to regional parties.

It was promulgated by the Election Commission of India and provides for the "specification reservation, choice and allotment of symbols at elections in Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies, for the "recognition of political parties"

Source link: https://eci.gov.in/files/file/10381-political-parties-and-election-symbols/

You can download 156 pages of the full manual from this link.

Is there a any process or logic behind these symbols?

▪︎ Allotment Process

Yes, there is a process for designing election symbols in India. As per the guidelines, to get a symbol allotted:

1. A party/candidate has to provide a list of three symbols from the EC's free symbols list at the time of filing nomination papers.

2. Among them, one symbol is allotted to the party/candidate on a first-come-first-serve basis.

3. When a recognised political party splits, the Election Commission takes the decision on assigning the symbol.

▪︎Design or Logic behind these symbols

A•

The Election Commission of India (ECI) currently maintains a pool of thousands of symbols.

B•

The images represent aspects of everyday life in India, from a stack of tires and a gramophone, to an auto-rickshaw and a lotus flower.

Are these symbols on national level or differ statewise?

The symbols are allotted to political parties at the national level by the Election Commission of India.

However, two or more regional or state parties can have the same symbol provided they are contesting from different states.

For example:

Bicycle symbol has been assigned to more than 2 parties in different locations. I mean in different states to different parties.

In Uttar Pradesh Bicycle is assigned to SP (Samajwadi Party/समाजवादी पार्टी)
In Andhra Pradesh the same symbol is assigned to Telugu Desam (तेलगु देसम)
And in Jammu and Kashmir Bicycle symbol is allotted to Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party. (जम्मू और कश्मीर नेशनल पेंन्थर्स पार्टी)

This example was about regional or state level allotment of the same symbol to different parties.

Now let’s look at a National Party Symbol allotted to more than 1 Party.

Elephant symbol features in the national parties list and assigned to BSP. As we know in North India.

But the same symbol… I mean Elephant is assigned to Asom Gana Parishad (असम गण परिषद) in Assam

So, there is always a chance of crossover, confusion and conflict.

Recent Maharashtra tussle over the party symbol is fresh in our memories.

Who Designs or let’s say who illustrates these symbols?

I could not find an appropriate or exact answer to this question.

The text says Election Commission maintains a pool of thousands symbols.

The question arises… are these clip arts?

Some of the recent symbols given in Election Commission’s symbols list are photographic cutouts.

Please, look at the page number: 136 from the booklet.

Certainly there is no style guide in place that’s the impression one gets if we browse through the 156 pages booklet.

How many states and Union territories are there in India?

There are 28 states and 8 union territories in India.

How many political parties are there in India?

As per the latest publications dated May 2023 from Election Commission of India, there are 6 national parties, 54 state parties and 2,597 unrecognised parties.

Conclusion:

So, like private sector organisations, Government should also have a dedicated design, illustration and communication department or team to cohesively work with the changing times to fullfill user expectations.

All the government departments ministries and autonomous bodies can not depend on 50 years old model of DAVP.

Disclaimer:

All the images/screen shots, videos and links shown here belong to respected owners and shared here for appreciation purpose.

Bibliography

Tags:

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