Dispute Case No. 1 of 1999 - Application filed by Shri H.D. Deve Gowda no affidavits have been filed from them by either side. Like shifting sands, many of the office bearers of the party have been changing their stands and loyalties, as is evident from the disputed affidavits, or have been fence sitters keeping their options close to them. The Commission would like to go into all these relevant aspects, before it formally comes to any conclusions. But, as observed above, there is hardly any time for this exercise, which will be a time consuming process, and cannot be completed before the process of the general elections above mentioned commences on the 11th August, 1999. Even the parties and their office bearers need time to respond. Unless the contentious issues and factual controversies raised by the two rival groups are resolved and determined, after proper investigation and examination, it would be unfair and detrimental to the interests of both the contending groups, if either of them is permitted by the Commission to project itself as the Janata Dal and corner to itself the goodwill of the party as a whole. Therefore, it is of paramount importance and urgency that, until the determination of the dispute, some interim arrangement is made, whereby both the rival groups are placed on an equal footing, in the matter of their approach to the electorate. 16. Having regard to the totality of facts and circumstances of the present case, and in view of the extreme paucity of time left for disposal of the present dispute on merits, principles of fair play and equity demand of the crystal nature of the Election Commission in the eyes of the electorate and the polity that both the disputant groups before it be treated at par, pending final determination of the dispute, and neither of the splinter groups is allowed to use, either the ‘name’ or the “reserved symbol’ of the Janata Dal, as it may cause prejudice to one or the other group. At the same time, the Commission would also not like any of these groups to be placed at a disadvantageous position, vis-a-vis other political parties, in their election campaigns. Therefore, as a purely stop gap arrangement and interim measure, we have decided to grant provisional and ad-hoc recognition to both the rival groups as National parties, for the purposes of the Symbols Order, at the ensuing general elections to the House of the People and to the Legislative Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Sikkim, and also the bye-elections being held simultaneously to various State Legislative Assemblies. Meanwhile, the symbol ‘Chakra (Wheel)’ shall be kept in the safe and protective custody of the Election Commission, and may be allotted to the party which ultimately is found entitled to the use of the name and symbol of the party, on the final determination of the dispute. 17. At the cost of repetition, the Commission would like to make 336