EC: Empower us to de-register political parties

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 10 

The Election Commission of India has sought power to de-register erring political parties which often take undue benefit of a legislative vacuum in this regard.

In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the poll panel said “the EC should be given powers to de-register a political party and authorised to issue orders regulating registration and de-registration of political parties, particularly in view of its constitutional mandate.” The affidavit has been filed in response to a PIL by BJP leader and advocate Ashwani Kumar Upadhyay seeking to restrain convicted politicians from holding party posts.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The affidavit stated that a perusal of Section 29 (of the Representation of the People Act, 1951) revealed that while it provided for the procedure for registration of parties and also conferred discretionary powers on the EC to decide whether or not to register a party, it did not expressly confer any power  regarding de-registration of parties.

However, the EC said it has de-listed/deleted 255 parties from its records after a verification exercise in 2016 of parties which did not field any candidates in elections held between 2005 and 2015.

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had on December 1 last year issued notices to the Centre and EC on the BJP leader’s petition — which also sought a lifetime ban on convicted politicians from contesting elections and holding party position.

If the court finally allows the prayer sought by the petitioner, convicted politicians such as Om Prakash Chautala and Lalu Prasad would no longer be in a position to hold any position in INLD and RJD, respectively.

The petitioner said the law debarred convicted politicians from contesting but they were free to run a party, hold party posts and decide who could contest. Section 29A, he added, allowed even those convicted of heinous crimes to form a party by making a simple declaration.