: The Delhi High Court on Friday urged the Election Commission (EC) to come out with guidelines prohibiting political parties in power from using public funds to propagate their symbols or leaders, and suggested their derecognition if they failed to abide by these norms.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw’s “request” to the EC came as he disposed of an NGO’s plea seeking derecognition of the party symbol of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for allegedly using public money, while in power, to set up statues of ‘elephants’ across the State.
The court noted that there was a lacuna in the election symbols law allowing a recognised political party to continue using its symbol till it was de-recognised and this lacuna, as per NGO Common Cause, was exploited by the Mayawati-led party.
The judge also noted that EC till now has not issued any direction prohibiting recognised political parties from doing what BSP was accused of, and asked the poll panel to consider coming out with the guidelines in three months. “I, therefore, dispose of this petition with a request to EC to within a period of three months, consider issuing appropriate direction/guideline within the meaning of clause 16A(b) of the Symbols Order preventing recognised political party in power from using public places and public funds for propagating its reserve symbol and/or its leaders, so as to come in the way of conducting of free, fair and peaceful election,” the court said.
Order on symbols
The court further said that there was “no power in ECI under Symbols Order to withdraw/ freeze an election symbol once allotted and/or reserved for a recognised political party, and the only manner in which the symbol once allotted/reserved is lost, is on loss of recognition”. - PTI
