ECI tightens verification process for new political parties
It is part of the ECI’s broader effort to clean up the electoral system by identifying and removing non-functional or bogus political entities.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced a stricter verification process for the registration of new political parties under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The move comes as part of the ECI’s broader effort to clean up the electoral system by identifying and removing non-functional or bogus political entities.
Political parties in India — national, state, or Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) — must be registered with the ECI under the law. However, officials aware of the matter told HT that “recent audits have shown that many RUPPs are either non-existent or no longer operational.”
As part of its clean-up initiative, the ECI on August 9 de-listed 334 such RUPPs that had failed to contest elections for over six years and were untraceable at their registered addresses. This reduced the total number of RUPPs from 2,854 to 2,520.
In a follow-up phase announced on August 11, the ECI identified another 476 RUPPs for possible de-listing. Chief electoral officers (CEOs) of respective states and Union Territories have been directed to carry out verification enquiries against these parties and issue show cause notices.
The Commission has clarified that any party that fails to respond or does not meet the legal requirements may be de-listed permanently.
The ECI has introduced an additional layer of scrutiny in the registration process for new political parties. Officials said that “it has come to the Commission’s attention that some applicants, seeking to register as political parties, have submitted manipulated or false affidavits about their founding members”.
In order to address this, the Commission has directed that at least 20 affidavits from founding members, chosen at random, must be verified as part of the registration process. “These members may belong to different districts or states, and the verification will be coordinated through the relevant District Election Officers (DEOs) under the supervision of state CEOs,” the official said.
The de-listing process has already had state-level implications. For instance, in Telangana, 13 RUPPs were delisted and nine others were served notices, while in Jharkhand, five parties were recently removed from the official register. Across various states, the ECI is continuing verification and enforcement actions to ensure compliance with the Representation of the People Act.
