Zeenews Bureau

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Election Commission's order to cover statues of elephants installed at various parks and memorials across Uttar Pradesh where Assembly polls are due next month.

The Division Bench comprising Justice Amar Saran and Justice Ramesh Sinha had earlier reserved its order on the PIL on January 16.

The petition was filed by one local businessman Dheeraj Singh.

Singh had moved a similar petition earlier which was "dismissed as withdrawn" by the court on January 11 as the Public Interest Litigation was found to have "technical shortcomings".

It was submitted by Singh's lawyer Anil Bisen that the petitioner was "a devout Hindu who has felt hurt by the Election Commission's order as the figure of an elephant represented the venerable Lord Ganesha".

The Election Commission had passed the order for covering of statues of elephants as well as those of state Chief Minister Mayawati on January 7, saying it wanted to ensure no political party was allowed to "derive political advantage".

Elephant is the election symbol of the state's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and has protested the EC's order.

Mayawati, who is also the BSP supremo, had described the EC's order as one-sided and claimed her sympathisers were likely to view it as a "casteist" move.

(With PTI inputs)