SIKKIM: Election Commission allots ‘Citizen’ election symbol to Citizen Action Party Sikkim

Gangtok: Citizen Action Party (CAP) Sikkim has received ‘Citizen’ as its election symbol from the Election Commission of India (ECI).

CAP Sikkim president LP Kafle, chief coordinator Ganesh Rai and party officials unveiled the ‘Citizen’ election symbol during a brief ceremony held at Rangpo on Friday.

The CAP Sikkim president told the media that the symbol ‘Nagrik’ or ‘Nagrik’ represents the citizens with whom our party is closely associated and their democratic power to elect themselves.

Kafle said that there is a provision to obtain election symbol from ECI within one month of being registered with the Commission. He said, after CAP Sikkim got the ECI registration, we applied and got our election symbol.

CAP Sikkim received ECI registration on 1 December. The party was launched in Melli by party chief coordinator Ganesh Rai on January 26 earlier this year with a call for reforms in Sikkim.

Asked what the ‘Citizen’ symbol represents, the CAP Sikkim president said: “Till now, political parties in Sikkim were formed by one person. However, we have formed CAP after consultation with the people. It is the citizens who have created our party and therefore CAP is a party of citizens.

Kafle said that the leaders who have been elected have not lived up to the expectations of the people in Sikkim. “Sikkim is facing an economic crisis with huge debt while unemployment is at an all-time high. So our symbol represents that people should come together and vote for themselves to bring much-needed reforms in Sikkim.”