The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday that it has delisted 334 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) in a major cleanup drive aimed at sanitising the country’s political system. The decision was made after these parties failed to contest a single election for six years and their registered offices could not be physically located.
This action reduces the total number of RUPPs from 2,854 to 2,520. India currently has six national parties and 67 state parties.
Reasons for Delisting and Process
The ECI’s move stems from a prolonged failure by these parties to fulfil a fundamental condition: participating in elections. According to the poll panel, the delisted parties had not contested any Lok Sabha, state assembly, or by-elections since 2019. This non-participation, combined with the inability to trace their physical addresses, led to the decision to remove them from the list.
The ECI began proceedings against 345 such parties in June of this year, culminating in the delisting of 334.
Legal and Historical Context
The registration of political parties, including RUPPs, is governed by Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. This registration grants parties certain advantages, most notably exemptions from income tax. Officials have noted that some RUPPs have been suspected of misusing these privileges and flouting anti-money laundering laws.
While the Supreme Court has previously barred the ECI from “derecognising” parties, the commission has found a way to “delist” them. This procedure allows the ECI to remove dormant parties from its records, but it also allows for them to be re-listed later without undergoing a fresh recognition process. This is not the first time such an exercise has been conducted; ECI officials mentioned similar purges have occurred three to four times since 2001.
The delisting has immediate consequences: these parties are now ineligible to field candidates in any upcoming elections. The timing of this cleanup exercise is particularly notable as it precedes the upcoming Bihar polls.
