Ghost parties? EC’s crackdown on 345 political parties; poll body begins delisting process, says no offices found | India News
NEW DELHI: In a massive crackdown on ghost parties, the Election Commission of India on Thursday started its proceedings to delist 345 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs). The poll body noted that the offices of these parties couldn’t be found anywhere, adding that they haven’t contested any election in the six years.“The Election Commission of India (ECI), under the Chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner, Shri Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi, has started proceedings for the delisting of 345 Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) which have failed to fulfil the essential condition of contesting even a single election for the last six years since 2019 and the offices of these parties could not be physically located anywhere. These 345 RUPPs are from different States and UTs across the country,” the poll body said in an official press release.It has observed that many of the more than 2,800 RUPPs currently listed with the Election Commission have not met the necessary criteria required to maintain their status.“It has come to the notice of the Commission that of the over 2,800 RUPPs, currently registered with ECI, many RUPPs have failed to fulfil the essential conditions which are required to continue as an RUPP. Thus, a nationwide exercise was conducted by the ECI to identify such RUPPs and 345 such RUPPs have already been identified till now,” it added.The EC said that in order to prevent any unfair removal of parties, the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of the respective states and Union territories have been instructed to issue show-cause notices to the concerned RUPPs.Following the notice, “these parties will be given an opportunity through a hearing by the concerned CEOs. The final decision regarding the de-listing of any RUPP shall be taken by the Election Commission of India”, the statement said.The aim of this exercise, EC explained, is to clean up the political system by identifying and de-listing RUPPs that have either not contested any Lok Sabha, state assembly, or bye-elections since 2019, or cannot be physically located.“These 345 RUPPs have been identified in the first phase of this exercise, which shall be continued with the objective of cleaning up the political system,” it said.
