Anit Thapa, the chief of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), on Tuesday said his party would not be able to use the candle as its symbol in the Assembly polls despite campaigning with it for around a month.

“As of today, the candle does not appear in the list of the election symbols of the Election Commission of India. Therefore, in this election, we have to contest on a symbol other than the candle,” said Thapa.

“So far, we had been campaigning with the candle, but since the symbol is no longer in the EC’s list, we have no option (but to drop it),” said Thapa.

He clarified that in the previous panchayat polls, the party had fought the election on the candle symbol for which “we received approval from the state election commission”.

For the Assembly polls, the BGPM is fielding Bijoy Kumar Rai from Darjeeling, Amar Lama from Kurseong and sitting Kalimpong MLA Ruden Sada Lepcha. The party’s candidates from Kalimpong and Kurseong are to file their nominations on Wednesday. Rai is scheduled to file his nomination on April 2.

Parties like the BGPM, which are registered but not recognised, have to choose an election symbol from a list of free symbols.

Sources said several reasons led to the candle not being listed as a free symbol in the Bengal polls.

“In 2017, the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) was recognised as a state party in Meghalaya and their symbol is the candle. It is now a reserved symbol. This is probably why the EC has not kept the candle in its list of free symbols,” said a source.

The candle as a symbol, however, was featured in the panchayat polls of 2023 held across the Darjeeling hills.

That election was conducted by the state election commission, which draws up its own free symbol list.

Another source alluded to the recent notification of the EC on the amended Election Symbols (Reservation and Order, 1968).

According to the new order, a party seeking the same free symbol as in the past election must have polled at least 1 per cent of the total valid votes of the state.

But this is a tough condition for a hill-based party with limited reach.

Thapa, however, said the BGPM would continue to use the candle symbol in the local panchayat or the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) elections.

Party workers rued that all publicity materials with the candle as the symbol were of no use anymore. "So few days remain for the polls and we have to get new publicity materials with a new symbol," said a worker.