The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the recognition of political parties as national or State-level parties by the Election Commission of India (EC).
The petitioner, the Hind Samrajya Party - a registered political party, had challenged the validity of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, for classifying political parties as either national parties or State parties.
A bench of Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Anish Dayal held that the issues raised in the petition were already settled by the Supreme Court, and there was no reason to hold the said Order to be without any statutory powers or discriminatory.
The petitioner argued that the EC illegally recognised the political parties at national or State-level when it has no power to do so. It asserted that national and State-level political parties were allotted election symbols for campaigning much before the elections whereas the candidates of a “newly-born political party” would get a symbol only after the date of scrutiny, leaving it with a very short span of time.
Upholds Election Symbols Order
