Political parties on Sunday took exception to Election Commission's order to cover statues of chief minister Mayawati and elephants - BSP's poll symbol - in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, saying it will give rise to several complications.

"This decision will give rise to several complications. It is impractical to implement," CPI national secretary D Raja said.

"It appears irrational and the EC should have thought of all aspects in-depth before taking this action relating to symbols to political parties. You have live elephants, how will you cover them. There are symbols like hand pumps. Are you going to cover all these?" he asked.

JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said, "There is no point in covering the statues. The statues are concrete proof to the fact that public money has been wasted.

Their comments came against the backdrop of Election Commission issuing orders last night to cover statues of Mayawati and BSP's poll symbol 'elephant'

Meanwhile, under Election Commission orders, the Uttar Pradesh administration on Monday started draping statues of chief minister Mayawati and the ruling BSP's symbol in Noida even as an official declared that it would be done fully in Lucknow tomorrow.

Lucknow district magistrate Anil Sagar said, "I have got the EC orders and it will be fully executed tomorrow."

The work is likely to be executed by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA).

Official sources said the statues of BSP's symbol, elephants, constructed under a fountain in Samajik Parivartan Sthal at Gomti Nagar in Lucknow were covered this afternoon, though some BSP activists removed the veil within minutes and left the place.

The EC had on Saturday ordered that all statues of Mayawati and her party symbol installed at several places in UP be covered until the Assembly poll were over in the state.

One of the places where the covering of the statues has begun is the controversial Noida memorial park on the Delhi's outskirts that was inaugurated by Mayawati in October last year amid much fanfare.

The memorial, which drew much criticism from political parties across the spectrum, is meant to honour Dalit icons and has over two dozen huge statues of Mayawati, her mentor Kanshi Ram and B R Ambedkar, among others.

Chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi had said the directive should be implemented "at the earliest" as the matter related to the model code of conduct.

The ruling BSP has termed the order as "one-sided and against natural justice".

Taking exception to the EC's order, JD-U and CPI said it will give rise to several complications.

In the 2004 lok sabha elections, then prime minister A B Vajpayee's photograph on billboards across the country on the Golden Quadrilateral National Highway were covered by cloth in line with the poll panel's directive.