NEW DELHI: Continuing its crackdown on registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) found to be non-existent or repeatedly defaulting on the statutory requirements as per the Representation of the People Act, the Election Commission on Tuesday deleted 86 more RUPPs from the list of registered parties after a physical verification did not find them at their registered addresses.
Another 253 RUPPs were declared by the poll watchdog as “inactive” for not contesting a parliamentary or assembly election within five years of registration or thereafter and also failing in the statutory responsibility of filing their annual audit report, annual contribution report or election expenditure details for the last eight years even after they were served a notice in May this year.
The immediate consequence of the EC action will be that the ‘deleted’ and ‘inactive’ RUPPs will no longer be entitled to claim benefits under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, the most important being a common poll symbol.
The EC further directed that the lists of the 86 “deleted” parties and 253 “inactive” parties be shared with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) “for further necessary action under its extant statutory instructions”. Only last week, I-T authorities had, acting of information received from EC in May regarding alleged financial improprieties by some RUPPs, conducted pan-India searches at their premises.
As many as 66 of the 253 parties declared as ‘inactive” had applied for a common symbol but never contested a poll conducted by the EC, violating the ‘birth condition’ that they would put up at least 5% of total candidates in an assembly election. A source said this may indicate an intent to occupy the available pre-election space by taking benefits of admissible entitements like vehicles and airtime, without contesting the polls.
The 253 ‘inactive’ RUPPs, some registered as long back as in 1989, are based in Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. UP in fact accounts for over 100 or more than 40% of the ‘inactive’ RUPPs, followed by Delhi that has around 80 ‘inactive’ RUPPs. The names are unlikely to ring a bell — Aims Party, Ati Picchara Party and Marxist Coordination in Bihar; Upekshit Samaj Party and Mahila Adhikar Party in Delhi; Children First Party of India in Karnataka; Rashtriya Aman Sena in Maharashtra; Tamizhaga Makkal Jananyaga Katchi in Tamil Nadu; Praja Bharath Party in Telangana; and Sikshit Berozgar Sena and Momin Conference in UP.
Another 253 RUPPs were declared by the poll watchdog as “inactive” for not contesting a parliamentary or assembly election within five years of registration or thereafter and also failing in the statutory responsibility of filing their annual audit report, annual contribution report or election expenditure details for the last eight years even after they were served a notice in May this year.
The immediate consequence of the EC action will be that the ‘deleted’ and ‘inactive’ RUPPs will no longer be entitled to claim benefits under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, the most important being a common poll symbol.
The EC further directed that the lists of the 86 “deleted” parties and 253 “inactive” parties be shared with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) “for further necessary action under its extant statutory instructions”. Only last week, I-T authorities had, acting of information received from EC in May regarding alleged financial improprieties by some RUPPs, conducted pan-India searches at their premises.
As many as 66 of the 253 parties declared as ‘inactive” had applied for a common symbol but never contested a poll conducted by the EC, violating the ‘birth condition’ that they would put up at least 5% of total candidates in an assembly election. A source said this may indicate an intent to occupy the available pre-election space by taking benefits of admissible entitements like vehicles and airtime, without contesting the polls.
The 253 ‘inactive’ RUPPs, some registered as long back as in 1989, are based in Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. UP in fact accounts for over 100 or more than 40% of the ‘inactive’ RUPPs, followed by Delhi that has around 80 ‘inactive’ RUPPs. The names are unlikely to ring a bell — Aims Party, Ati Picchara Party and Marxist Coordination in Bihar; Upekshit Samaj Party and Mahila Adhikar Party in Delhi; Children First Party of India in Karnataka; Rashtriya Aman Sena in Maharashtra; Tamizhaga Makkal Jananyaga Katchi in Tamil Nadu; Praja Bharath Party in Telangana; and Sikshit Berozgar Sena and Momin Conference in UP.
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