Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 23 Sep: The Election Commission of India (ECI) regularly updates information on the active status of registered political parties across the country. As part of this process, the ECI has delisted 11 more registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) in Uttarakhand. This follows previous action on 9 August this year, when six parties were delisted. Additionally, two other RUPPs have been issued a notice.
The 11 political parties have been delisted because they did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections or any subsequent assembly and Lok Sabha elections. This is considered a major action against political parties ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
The ECI takes this action because new political parties become active before every five-yearly assembly election and get themselves registered with the commission. However, their activity often ceases after contesting just one election. Consequently, the ECI delists these parties due to their inactivity.
These 11 political parties have been given 30 days to make a final appeal. In addition, two other political parties have been issued a notice asking them to present their case by 13 October, 2025.
The two parties issued the notice are the Bharatiya Sarvoday Party and the Uttarakhand Pragatisheel Party, both of which are registered unrecognised political parties in Uttarakhand. While these parties have participated in elections held over the past six years since 2019, they have failed to submit their annual audit reports and election expenditure statements for the financial years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24.
As per the rules, it is mandatory for political parties to submit their reports within 75 days of an assembly election and 90 days of a Lok Sabha election. It may be recalled that the political parties are registered with the ECI under the provisions of Section 29 of the Representation of the People Act. After registration, the ECI provides various benefits to these parties, which include exemption from income tax (under Section 13 of the Income Tax Act), recognition (under Para 6 of the Symbols Order), general symbol allocation for RUPPs (under Para 10B of the Symbols Order), reserved symbols for recognised parties, and the nomination of star campaigners.
The 11 parties delisted are Bharat Kaumi Dal, Bharat Parivar Party, Bharatiya Mool Niwasi Samaj Party, Bharatiya Samrat Subhash Sena, Bharatiya Antyodaya Party, Bharatiya Gram Nagar Vikas Party, Gorkha Democratic Front, Peoples Party, Prajatantra Party of India, Suraj Sewa Dal, and Uttarakhand Janshakti Party.
While the six parties from Uttarakhand which had been delisted last month are Bharatiya Jankranti Party, Hamari Janmanch Party, Maidani Kranti Dal, Praja Mandal Party, Rashtriya Gram Vikas Party, and Rashtriya Jan Sahay Dal
