Bengaluru’s “Children First Party of India” will no longer be able to field candidates in polls with a common symbol as the Election Commission on Tuesday branded it as “non-existent” and removed it from the list of Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs), along with 85 more from across the country.
The EC also listed as inactive 253 other RUPPs as ‘inactive’, including Rashtriya Praja Chakravyuh Party of Kolar, Kannada Naadu Party of Hubli, Bharatiya Praja Shakti of Ramanagara, Bharathiya Nethaji Party of Bengaluru and four others from Karnataka.
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The poll panel had de-listed 87 RUPPs and 111 RUPPs on May 25 and June 20 last. With the latest action against 86, the total number of the recently de-listed RUPPs went up to 284.
The de-listed RUPPs as well as the ones declared will not be entitled to have benefits under the Symbols Order, 1968 and hence will not be able to field candidates to contest polls.
The EC decided to brand 253 non-compliant RUPPs, after receiving reports from the Chief Electoral Officers of the seven states namely Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. They have not responded to the letters or notices delivered to them and have not contested a single election either to the general assembly of a state or the parliamentary election 2014 and 2019. These RUPPs have failed to comply with statutory requirements for more than 16 compliance steps since 2015 and are continuing to default, the poll-panel stated in a press release issued on Tuesday.
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The EC noted that 66 RUPPs had actually applied for a common symbol as per Para 10B of the Symbol’s Order 1968 and had not contested the respective elections. “It is pertinent to note that privilege of a common symbol is given to RUPP based upon an undertaking for putting up at least 5% of total candidates with regard to said legislative assembly election of a State. Possibility of such parties occupying the available pre-election political space by taking benefits of admissible entitlements without contesting elections cannot be ruled out,” the poll panel noted, adding: “This also tends to crowd out the political parties actually contesting elections and also creating confusing situations for the voters.”
The commission pointed out that the primary purpose of registration of political parties was contained in Section 29A which listed out privileges and advantages accrued to an association on being registered as a political party and all such advantages and privileges are directly relatable to the said participation in the electoral processes.