Jammu, Nov 16: Chairman of Democratic Azad Party (DAP) and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has applied to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for registration of his newly floated party, initially christened as Democratic Azad Party (DAP) under a new name i.e., Progressive Azad Party.
Party’s senior leader and former minister Taj Mohi-Ud-Din told Greater Kashmir that the call to rename the party was taken by the chairman following a suggestion of the ECI.
“This was the requirement of ECI. The party had applied for registration of the Democratic Azad Party. However, the ECI said that the registration could not be granted to the party under the name applied for i.e., Democratic Azad Party as it was similar to some other party. They (ECI) suggested that we should come up with some other name for getting the party registered, hence this decision to rechristen DAP as Progressive Azad Party,” said Taj Mohi-Ud-Din, who is also the treasurer of the party.
“A public notice inviting objections has also been issued in this connection, thus meeting the formalities related to the process after the filing of a fresh application for registration,” he said.
On September 26 this year, Azad had launched his party exactly a month after his resignation from Congress and also unveiled its ‘tri-striped’ flag. “It will be truly democratic in its nature and not autocratic. The power will not remain restricted to one individual,” he had said.