Madras High Court Dismisses Janata Party's Plea Challenging Use Of Deceptively Similar Symbol By Naam Tamilar Katchi Party

The Madras High Court has dismissed a plea filed by the Janata Party alleging the use of a deceptively similar symbol by Naam Tamilar Katchi. The bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan dismissed the plea after noting that the petitioner party had not produced any document to substantiate their claim. The court also noted that the Supreme Court, in the case of Subramanian Swamy v. The Election Commission of India (2008), had dealt with a similar issue regarding the party's right to seek a symbol. Thus, the court was inclined to dismiss the plea. The party had approached the court seeking direction to the Chief Election Officer to consider the party's representation and immediately intervene to take appropriate action and prevent misuse of the party's symbol by NTK. The party submitted that it had a long-standing, continuous and legitimate association with its official political symbol “Chakra-Haldhar” (Farmer with Plough) and the symbol was not just become the identifying mark of the party but also embodied its ideology, principles, and political legacy. The party submitted that the NTK party was using a symbol (farmer and plough) which was deceptively similar to its official symbol, which was likely to create confusion in the minds of the electorate and would result in misrepresentation of the party's identity and goodwill. The party further argued that as per the Election Symbol (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, no political party is entitled to use a symbol that is identical to or deceptively similar to a symbol reserved for another recognised political party. The party claimed that the unauthorised adoption and usage of a deceptively similar symbol is in clear violation of the electoral norms and principles and contrary to mandate of conducting free, fair, and transparent elections. It was submitted that the similarity between the marks would cause inevitable confusion for the voters, especially in rural and semi-literate sections. The party also submitted that it had given representations to the Election Commission of India seeking action against the usage of deceptively similar marks by NTK, but no action had been taken till date, prompting the party to approach the court. When the case was taken up for hearing on Thursday (16 April), the court noted that the party had not produced any document to substantiate it's claim, including the order showing that the party is recognised or order allotting the symbol to the party. The court said that in the absence of the relevant documents, it could not pass any direction to the ECI. Thus, finding no merits, the court dismissed the plea. Case Title: Janata Party v The Chief Election Officer Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 168 Case No: WP 14012 of 2026

Madras High Court Dismisses Janata Party's Plea Challenging Use Of Deceptively Similar Symbol By Naam Tamilar Katchi Party

Upasana Sajeev

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