THE Election Commission (EC) on Friday said it has de-listed 474 more registered unrecognised political parties for flouting norms, including not contesting elections in the last six years. In the first phase of the exercise, the EC de-listed 334 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) on August 9. “In continuation, in the second phase, ECI delisted 474 RUPPs on September 18, based on non-contestation in elections conducted by ECI continuously for 6 years. Thus, 808 RUPPs have been delisted in the last 2 months,” EC said in a statement. The guidelines for the registration of political parties note that if a party does not contest elections continuously for six years, it will be taken off the list of registered parties.

 

Till recently, there were 2,520 RUPPs. After the de-listing exercise, 2,046 RUPPs remain. Besides, there are six recognised national parties and 67 State parties. Of the 808 RUPPs de-listed in the last two months, 14 are from Bihar, where Assembly polls are due in November. Separately, 359 RUPPs have been identified for not having submitted their annual audited accounts in the last three financial years -- 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023- 24 -- within the stipulated time period and contesting polls but not filing election expenditure reports.These parties are from 23 States and Union Territories. Since 2001, the EC has carried out the exercise of weeding out defunct RUPPs “three to four” times, officials said. The Supreme Court had earlier barred the poll panel from “derecognising” political parties, noting that it was not prescribed under law. However, the EC has found a way to “delist parties”.

 

The parties de-listed can be listed again by the poll authority without getting into the process of giving them fresh recognition, a former EC functionary pointed out. Some RUPPs were in the past found flouting the income-tax and money-laundering laws. Political parties (national, State and RUPPs) in the country are registered with the EC under the provisions of section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Under the provision, any association once registered as a political party gets certain privileges and advantages, such as tax exemptions. This exercise has been conducted with the aim of cleaning up the political system and de-listing such parties that have not contested any election to the Lok Sabha or the legislative assemblies of the States and Union territories or bypolls since 2019 and those that could not be physically traced, the officials said.