Bihar’s 334 Parties’ Recognition Cancelled by EC Ahead of State and National Polls

New Delhi. The Election Commission on Saturday said it has delisted 334 registered unrecognized political parties from various states and union territories across the country, as they have failed to fulfill the mandatory condition of contesting a single election in the six years since 2019. The offices of these parties are also nowhere to be traced. Officials said that this process has been started with the aim of streamlining the political system and removing from the list such parties that have not participated in any Lok Sabha or State/Union Territory Assembly elections or by-elections since 2019 and that cannot be physically traced. This new step has been taken before the Bihar elections.

There are 2,520 political parties in the country

The parties removed from the list cannot field their candidates to contest elections. Out of a total of 2,854 registered unrecognized political parties, only 2,520 remain after this campaign of the commission. Currently, there are six national parties and 67 state-level parties among them. It is worth noting that in June this year, the commission had initiated action against 345 such parties and finally removed 334 from the list.

Officials said the Election Commission has removed inactive registered unrecognized political parties "three to four times" since 2001. The Supreme Court had earlier restrained the Election Commission from "derecognizing" political parties, noting that it was not prescribed under the law.

The commission can re-list the removed parties

However, the Election Commission has found a way to "de-list parties." A former Election Commission official said that de-listed parties can be re-listed by the Commission without undergoing any fresh recognition process. In the past, some registered but unrecognized political parties have been found to be violating income tax laws and anti-money laundering laws.

Political parties in the country (national/state/registered unrecognized political parties) are registered with the Election Commission under the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Under this provision, any organization, once registered as a political party, gets certain privileges and benefits like tax exemption.