Delhi HC rejects plea challenging ECI’s authority to grant national, State-level status for political parties

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the recognition of political parties as national or State-level parties by the Election Commission of India (EC).

The petitioner, the Hind Samrajya Party – a registered political party, had challenged the validity of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, for classifying political parties as either national parties or State parties.

A bench of Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Anish Dayal held that the issues raised in the petition were already settled by the Supreme Court, and there was no reason to hold the said Order to be without any statutory powers or discriminatory.

The petitioner argued that the EC illegally recognised the political parties at national or State-level when it has no power to do so. It asserted that national and State-level political parties were allotted election symbols for campaigning much before the elections whereas the candidates of a “newly-born political party” would get a symbol only after the date of scrutiny, leaving it with a very short span of time.

Upholds Election Symbols Order

The High Court, however, observed that the apex court has already held that allotment of election symbols could not be claimed as a fundamental right. “We see no reason to accept the contentions of the petitioner so as to hold that not only the Symbols Order of 1968 is without any statutory powers, but the said Symbols Order is discriminatory, thereby discriminating amongst the ‘recognised’ and ‘unrecognised’ political party”.

“Just because the petitioner on account of its status [U.P.-based political party] is not able to enjoy the privileges conferred on a ‘recognised’ political party, by itself, will not lead to a discriminatory treatment being meted out to the petitioner as the privileges enjoyed by the ‘recognised’ political parties are based on the qualifications which are permitted and satisfied by them under the Symbols Order of 1968 and also the Representation of the People Act, 1951,” the court said.