These parties have neither contested the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, or bye-elections since 2019 nor could their offices be physically located, the poll body said. The move comes as part of a larger nationwide review to ensure that all political entities fulfil the basic conditions required to remain registered with the ECI
India currently has over 2,800 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties, many of which are suspected of being inactive or defunct. Representational pic
The Election Commission of India (ECI) – led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi – has initiated proceedings to delist 345 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) across the country.
These parties have neither contested the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies, or bye-elections since 2019 nor could their offices be physically located, the poll body said.
The move comes as part of a larger nationwide review to ensure that all political entities fulfil the basic conditions required to remain registered with the ECI.
India currently has over 2,800 RUPPs, many of which are suspected of being inactive or defunct. As part of this first phase of the clean-up, 345 such entities have been identified. The Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of respective States and Union Territories have been instructed to issue show-cause notices to these parties, allowing them an opportunity to respond and attend hearings before any final decision is taken.
Under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, all political parties — whether national, state, or unrecognised — must meet certain obligations to remain registered and continue enjoying privileges such as tax exemptions.
This move, the commission emphasised, is designed to enhance transparency and accountability in the political system by ensuring that only actively functioning parties remain on the rolls. The delisting process will continue in further phases.
'Not tenable': EC sources on Cong seeking digital copy of Maharashtra voters' list
A day after the Congress urged the Election Commission to provide machine-readable digital copy of the Maharashtra voters' list, sources from the poll body on Thursday said that the demand is "not tenable" under the prevailing legal framework, reported news agency PTI. It also asserted that a similar plea of the party was junked by the Supreme Court in 2019.
The EC sources said while leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has been demanding for machine-readable, digital copy of the electoral roll for the past seven months, such demand by the Congress is "not new".
"Rather, it forms part of a strategy by the political party for well over eight years, a fact that appears to have been selectively obscured in the present representation," an EC source pointed out.
The EC sources said the demand reiterated by Gandhi, albeit consistent with the position historically maintained by the Congress, is "not tenable within the contours of the prevailing legal framework".
They pointed out that the issue was already taken up by the Congress before the Supreme Court in a writ petition in 2018 filed by Kamal Nath, the then president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.
It appears that Gandhi may not have been appropriately apprised of the finality with which the matter stands concluded in judicial record, they said.
(With PTI inputs)
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