5 TS political parties among 253 declared inactive by ECI

Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared five political parties in Telangana as inactive. They are All India Mahila Democratic Front (AIMDF); Bharatiya Yuvatha, Samatha, Rashtriyatha Congress Party; Nava Telangana Party; Praja Chaitanya Party; and Trilinga Praja Pragathi Party.

The Election Commission has barred them from availing benefits of the Symbol Order 1968.

In all, 253 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) have been declared inactive in the country. Also, 86 non-existent RUPPs will be deleted from the list and benefits under the Symbols Order (1968) will be withdrawn. This takes the tally of defaulting RUPPs since 25 May 2022 to 537, said a statement by ECI.

As per statutory requirements under section 29A of the RP Act, every political party has to communicate any change in its name, head office, office bearers, address, and PAN to the Commission without delay.

86 non-existent parties

Eighty-six RUPPs were found to be non-existent either after a physical verification carried out by the respective chief electoral officers of states and Union Territories concerned or based on report of undelivered letters/notices from the postal authority sent to the registered address of the RUPPs.

It may be recalled that ECI had delisted 87 RUPPs and 111 RUPPs vide orders dated 25 May 2022 and 20 June 2022.

253 parties declared inactive

The decision against 253 non-compliant RUPPs was taken based on reports received from chief electoral officers of seven states—Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. The Election Commission said they have been declared inactive as they did not respond to the letter/notice delivered to them and have not contested a single election—state or Parliament elections. These RUPPs have failed to comply with statutory requirements for more than 16 compliance steps since 2015 and are continuing to default, it said.

The ECI also said that of the 253 parties, 66 had applied for a common symbol but did not contest the elections.

The Commission further said that the parties declared inactive can approach the chief electoral officer concerned or the Election Commission within 30 days of the issue of the direction along with all evidence of existence and other legal and regulatory compliances, including year-wise (for all years under default) annual audited accounts, contribution report, expenditure report, and updation of office bearers.