In the likelihood of a split in the Samajwadi Party, the Election Commission may have to use its plenary powers to decide which of the rival groups is the real Samajwadi Party which can contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections under the symbol “cycle”.
For this, the Commission will have to undertake the long-drawn process of the ‘Rule of Majority and Numerical Strength’ envisaged in Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
The first task of the enquiry would be to check if there really are two rival groups, each claiming to be the real Samajwadi Party.
Once the Commission is satisfied that there are two splinter factions, the poll body would then “take into account all the available facts and circumstances of the case” and hear the representatives of the groups or any other person.
It would finally decide which one of the rival section or none of such rival groups is the recognised political party. The decision of the Commission shall be binding on all the groups and conceived as a direction to the Returning Officer.
“The symbol is not a property to be divided between co-owners. The allotment of a symbol to the candidates set up by a political party is a legal right. And in case of a split, the Commission has been authorised to determine which of the rival groups or section is the party entitled to the symbol. The Commission, in resolving this dispute, does not decide as to which group represents the party, but which group is that party,” a three-judge Supreme Court Bench of Justices H.R. Khanna, K.S. Hegde and A.N. Grover clarified the purpose of Paragraph 15, while upholding the constitutionality of the test of majority in Sadiq Ali v. Election Commission of India.
Congress split
This 1972 verdict dealt with a split in the Indian National Congress following differences over the choice of the Congress nominee for the office of the President of India. In 1969, the Congress split into two groups — Congress ‘O’ and Congress ‘J’. The EC had to use the test of majority to determine “which of the two groups was the recognised political party known as the Indian National Congress for the purpose of the Election Symbols Order”.
The Supreme Court has time and again upheld the test of majority in the Symbols Order to be a “valuable and relevant test” to decide a dispute between rival groups within a “democratic organisation” like a recognised political party. But on the flip side, the entire process may take considerable time.
In case of a split, between Akhilesh and Mulayam , and in case, one of them moves the EC claiming to be the real SP, the process of test of majority may extend beyond the poll dates, expected to be announced soon.
