Leader Of Unrecognised Political Party Not Entitled To Govt House: Madhya Pradesh High Court

Madhya Pradesh High Court has recently dismissed a writ petition filed by the President of Jai Lok Party who sought allotment of a government house on the ground that his party is a duly registered political party.

The single judge bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal observed that nothing on record indicates that Jai Lok Party is a ‘recognised' political party within the meaning of Section 2(1)(f) of the Representation of the People Act or as per the first proviso to Section 33(1) of the Representation of People Act or in terms of paragraph 3 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968. A brief reference was also made to the apex court decision in Kanhiya Lal Omar Vs. R.K. Trivedi & Ors, AIR 1986 SC 111.

“…therefore, there being no material on record to show that petitioner's party is either a recognized State party or a recognized National party, the impugned order having been passed declaring allotment of a house with regard to the petitioner on the touchstone of being not a recognized State or National party cannot be faulted with”, the court also remarked that the covering memo containing the resolution and constitution of Jai Lok Party is irrelevant to determine whether it’s a recognised political party or not.

Brijesh Gupta, the petitioner, approached the High Court by contending that there is no such thing as a national-level recognised political party or state-level recognised political party, and therefore, the Madhya Pradesh Home Department should not have refused allotment of government house to the petitioner.

Section 2 (1) (f) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 denotes that a 'Political Party' is an association or a body of individual citizens of India registered with the Election Commission of India as a political party within Section 29-A of the Representation of People Act, 1951. A similar connotation of political party and recognised political party can be found in Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968.

“Recognized 'Political Party' as mentioned in the first proviso to Section 33 (1) of the Representation of People Act, 1951 is assigned the same meaning as assigned to it by the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968”, the court clarified further.

The High Court, in its final order, noted that the reasons given for the non-allotment of government house in the order dated 15.09.2023 is justified. The assigned reason indicated that Jai Lok Party is not included in the list of National or State parties issued by the Election Commission of India.

Case Title: Jai Lok Party Through Its President Brijesh Gupta v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.

Case No: Writ Petition No. 25888 of 2023

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