Supreme Court declines to hear plea against use of 'I.N.D.I.A' acronym, calls PIL 'publicity' stunt

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to consider a PIL to restrain 26 Opposition parties from using the acronym I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) for their alliance, saying that the petition was filed for publicity only.

Advocate for petitioner contended before a bench of Justices S K Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia that there was a race underway in the country to prove nationalist credentials.

On this, the court asked the petitioner’s counsel as to how the judiciary could prevent said race from going on.

The bench said if some election norms were being violated, the petitioner should approach the Election Commission of India (ECI). Further, the bench contended that the petition had been filed for publicity and for nothing else.

The counsel argued that using the acronym “I.N.D.I.A” as the name for the Opposition bloc was against norms as well as morality. To this, the bench said that it was not going to determine morality in politics.

The top court was informed that a similar petition had been filed before the Delhi High Court earlier and that a notice had been issued in this regard.

After a brief hearing on the matter, petitioner Rohit Kheriwal's counsel agreed to withdraw the petition.

The Opposition parties led by the Congress had earlier announced their decision to unite and contest the Lok Sabha polls against the BJP under the 'I.N.D.I.A' banner.

Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had issued notice to the 26 Opposition political parties and the ECI on a similar PIL filed by Girish Bharadwaj.