EC delists 86 more non-existent political parties; total tally stands at 537

The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered delisting of another 86 nonexistent registered unrecognised political parties raising the number of such organisations red flagged by the poll panel for failing to comply with electoral rules to 537In a statement the EC said immediate corrective measures were required to be taken in larger public interest as well as for the purity of electoral democracy and hence it has also declared an additional 253 registered unrecognised political parties RUPPs as inactiveThe decision was taken by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey it saidThe EC today further delisted 86 nonexistent RUPPs and declared additional 253 as Inactive RUPPs This action against 339 noncompliant RUPPs takes the tally to 537 defaulting RUPPs since May 25 2022The Commission said the 86 RUPPs that have been delisted were found to be nonexistent either after a physical verification carried out by the respective Chief Electoral Officers CEOs of concerned statesUTs or based on report of undelivered lettersnotices from postal authority sent to the registered address of concerned RUPPIt had similarly delisted 87 and 111 RUPPs on May 25 and June 20 respectivelyThe decision against 253 noncompliant RUPPs was taken based on reports received from CEOs of Bihar Delhi Karnataka Maharashtra Tamil Nadu Telangana and Uttar PradeshThey were categorised as inactive as they have not responded to the letternotice delivered to them and have not contested a single election either to the general assembly of a state or the Parliament election 2014 and 2019 the EC saidThese RUPPs have failed to comply with statutory requirements for more than 16 compliance steps since 2015 and are continuing to default it saidThe Incometax department had last week conducted raids against certain RUPPs in some states as part of a tax evasion probe against them The department is understood to have taken a decision on the basis of the EC action undertaken against the RUPPs in MayJune following which it wrote to the Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT to take requisite action under extant legal framework The CBDT is the administrative authority for the tax departmentAlso Read Right to contest election neither fundamental nor common law right SCAfter the latest EC action the 86 nonexistent RUPPs it said shall be deleted from the list of register of RUPPs and render themselves liable to be not entitled to have benefits under the Symbols Order 1968The 253 RUPPs marked as inactive shall not be eligible to avail any benefit of the Election Symbols Reservation and Allotment Order 1968The Commission said it is pertinent that privilege of a common symbol is given to RUPP based upon an undertaking for putting up at least 5 percent of total candidates with regard to said legislative assembly election of a statePossibility of such parties occupying the available preelection political space by taking benefits of admissible entitlements without contesting elections cannot be ruled out This also tends to crowd out the political parties actually contesting elections and also creating confusing situations for the voters it saidThe Commission explained the rationale behind taking the decision saying it is cognizant that compliances of the birth conditions which are a combination of mandated and selfacknowledged provisions are sine qua non for maintaining financial discipline propriety public accountability transparencyThe compliances work as the building blocks of a transparency mechanism for informing the voters of the affairs of the political parties necessary for making informed choices it saidIn the absence of required compliances the statement said the electorate and the Election Commission get blindsided and further all these stated regulatory requirements have direct bearing on the Commissions constitutional mandate of conducting free fair and transparent electionsThe EC said parties aggrieved from the latest order may approach the concerned CEOElection Commission within 30 days of the issue of this direction along with all evidences of existence other legal and regulatory compliances including yearwise for all years under default annual audited accounts contribution report expenditure report updating of office bearers including authorized signatories for financial transactions including bank accountThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever