Kerala High Court Stays ECI's Order Delisting Registered Unrecognised Political Parties In State

Justice V.G. Arun issued an interim stay for the operation of the order of ECI that delisted them, allowing the parties' candidates to contest in the ongoing local body elections with their allotted symbols.

The order was issued in a batch of writ petitions including the petition filed by Kerala Congress (Skariah Thomas), Socialist Republican Party and Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi, challenging the order of ECI that delisted then from the RUPP list on the ground of not contesting parliamentary or assembly elections for six years.

The petitioners contended that the failure of a political party to contest in the Lok Sabha or Assembly election for a consecutive period of six years was not a ground for de-listing a political party. It was further contended that the Election Commission lacks statutory authority under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 to deregister a political party.

Reliance was placed on Indian National Congress (I) v. Institute of Social Welfare [(2002) 5 SCC 685] where it was held that Section 29 A of the Act does not confer upon ECI any supervisory jurisdiction to review whether the party adheres to its constitution and/or to scrutinise the conformity of its internal elections within its constitutional provisions.

It was submitted that even though the petitioner parties have not contested in Parliament or Assembly elections for the last six years, the members of these political parties have contested in election of local bodies which indicate they are active within the State.

It was also submitted that the Guidelines for Registration of Political Parties issued by the Election Commission under Section 29 A (6) of the Act does not have any statutory force and cannot be the basis for de-listing of the registered political parties.

The petitioners have also submitted that they were not given an opportunity to be heard during the enquiry as it was conducted on a public holiday. It was also argued that the statutory appeal provided under the delisting order was meaningless, as the ECI would effectively be reviewing its own decision.

The ECI, represented by standing counsel, maintained that it has broad constitutional authority to regulate elections and that delisting inactive parties is essential for transparency. The Commission argued that RUPPs enjoy certain privileges that should not extend to parties remaining inactive in politics.

Relying on Kanhiya Lal Omar v R K Trivedi and Others [(1985) 4 SCC 628] and Union of India v Association for Democratic Reforms and Another [(2002) 5 SCC 294], it was argued that the Election commission has plenary powers and is empowered to take steps to ensure smooth conduct of elections.

It was further submitted that the power to recognise a political party is conferred by the provisions of the Election Symbols (reservation and Allotment ), Order 1968. The ECI asserted that the petitioners breached the undertaking given at the time of registration of the political party, when it failed to contest in election for six years and this has resulted in delisting.

The Court examined Section 29 A of the Act and noted that there are no provisions for cancellation of registration mentioned in the Section.

It was further noted that reliance placed by ECI on the Symbols Order to trace the power for cancellation of registration is prima facie unsustainable.

“The reliance placed by the ECI on the Symbols Order to trace its power for cancellation of registration also appears to be prima facie unsustainable, the objective of the Symbols Order being to provide for specification, reservation, choice and allotment of symbols at elections in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies, for the recognition of the political parties in relation thereto and for matters connected therewith.” the Court noted.

Considering that the petitioners wanted to contest in the upcoming local body election and based on the submission on behalf of ECI which stated that there was no objection in the petitioners contesting the election despite the delisting order under challenge, the Court issued an interim order.

The Court thus stayed the ECI's delisting order, enabling candidates of the petitioner parties to contest in the ongoing local elections with their symbols, provided those symbols have not already been allotted to others.

“There shall be an interim stay of operation of Order No.F.No.56/Delisting/2025/PPS-III issued by the Election Commission of India, to the extent the petitioners are taken off from the list of Registered Political Parties and marked as 'DELISTED RUPPs', so as to enable the candidates of the petitioners to contest in the ongoing local bodies election, in the symbols allotted to the parties by the State Election Commission, if those symbols have not already been allotted to other parties.” the order read.

The case is posted on January 5, 2025 for further consideration.

Case Title: Kerala Congress (Skariah Thomas) v The Chief Election Officer &Secretary and connected cases

Case No: WP(C) 42726/ 2025

Counsel for Petitioners: E K Nandakumar ( Sr.), M Gopikrishnan Nambiar, K John Mathai, Joson Manavalan, Kuryan Thomas, Paulose C Abrahan, Raja Kannan, Jai Mohan, Pooja Menon

Counsel for Respondent: M Ajay (SC- ECI)