Election Commission to delist 345 unrecognised political parties

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has started proceedings for the delisting of 345 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) which have failed to fulfil the essential condition of contesting even a single election for the last six years since 2019 and the offices of these parties could not be physically located anywhere.

These 345 RUPPs are from different states across the country, ECI sources said.

It came to the notice of the Commission that out of the over 2,800 RUPPs currently registered with the ECI, many have failed to fulfil the essential conditions which are required to continue as an RUPP.

Thus, a nationwide exercise was conducted by the ECI to identify such RUPPs and 345 of these have already been identified till now.

In order to ensure that no party is unduly de-listed, the CEOs of the respective states have been directed to issue show-cause notices to such RUPPs following which, these parties will be given an opportunity through a hearing by the CEOs concerned.

The final decision regarding the de-listing of any RUPP shall be taken by the ECI.

Political parties (national, state and RUPPs) in the country are registered with the ECI under the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Under this provision, any association once registered as a political party, gets certain privileges and advantages such as tax exemptions amongst others.

This exercise has been conducted with the aim of cleaning up the political system and de-listing of such parties which have not contested any election to Lok Sabha or legislative assemblies of states or byelections since 2019 and those which could not be physically traced as well.

These 345 RUPPs have been identified in the first phase of this exercise, which shall be continued with the objective of cleaning up the political system.