New Delhi: As part of its action for ensuring due compliance by Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs), the Election Commission of India (ECI) led by Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, has delisted 86 non-existent RUPPs and declared another 253 as ‘Inactive RUPPs’.
The action against 339 non-compliant RUPPs takes the tally to 537 defaulting RUPPs since May 25, 2022.
The ECI said that as per statutory requirements under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, every political party has to communicate any change in its name, head office, office-bearers, address, PAN etc. to the Commission without delay.
A total of 86 RUPPs have been found to be non-existent either after a physical verification carried out by the respective chief electoral officers of concerned states/UTs or based on report of undelivered letters/notices from the postal authority sent to the registered address of the concerned RUPP.
It may be recalled that the ECI had delisted 87 and 111 RUPPs through orders dated May 25 and June 20, respectively.
The latest decision against 253 non-compliant RUPPs has been taken based on reports received from chief electoral officers of seven states — Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
These 253 RUPPs have been declared inactive, as they have not responded to the letter/notice delivered to them and have not contested a single election, be it Assembly polls or Parliamentary elections of 2014 and 2019.
These RUPPs have failed to comply with the statutory requirements for more than 16 compliance steps since 2015 and are continuing to default, said a senior EC official.
Of the above 253 parties, 66 RUPPs actually applied for a common symbol as per Para 10B of the Symbol’s Order 1968 and did not contest the respective elections.
It is pertinent to note that privilege of a common symbol is given to RUPP based upon an undertaking for putting up at least 5 per cent of total candidates with regard to said legislative Assembly elections of a state.
“Possibility of such parties occupying the available pre-election political space by taking benefits of admissible entitlements without contesting elections cannot be ruled out. This also tends to crowd out the political parties actually contesting elections and creates a confusing situation for the voters,” added the official.
Any aggrieved party may approach the concerned chief electoral officer/Election Commission within 30 days of the issuance of this direction along with all evidence of existence, other legal and regulatory compliances including year-wise (for all years under default) annual audited accounts, contribution report, expenditure report, updation of office-bearers, including authorised signatories for financial transactions, said the EC.
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