Cleanup drive: ECI begins de-listing of 345 dormant political parties

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has initiated the process of de-listing 345 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) that have failed to contest a single election since 2019 and whose offices could not be physically located across the country.

The election body’s action comes as part of a broader nationwide exercise to clean up the political system by identifying dormant or non-functional parties. The ECI in a statement said the move was approved by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi.

According to the Commission data, there were over 2,800 RUPPs currently on its register which have not met essential requirements to retain their status, including the basic condition of contesting elections. “After a nationwide survey, 345 parties have been identified in this first phase spanning across multiple States and Union Territories.” ECI said.

However, before starting the de-listing process, the ECI has asked chief election officers of the respective states to issue show-cause notices to such RUPPs following which, these parties will be given an opportunity to present their case.

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

According to the laid down procedures, political parties 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.

With a view to misuse these privileges and advantages that such parties are floated which may otherwise may not have any aim to contest an election. Several hundred crores are collected by some of these RUPPs thus hinting at channelling of the black money. These RUPPs are different from the national and state parties as they fail to get sufficient amount of votes to get recognised.

The ECI said this drive is aimed at streamlining the political system by weeding out inactive entities that have neither participated in Lok Sabha or state legislative assembly elections nor in any bypolls over the past six years. “The current action marks the first phase of a continuing effort to enhance transparency and accountability within the political system,” the ECI said.

India