The Election Commission of India on Thursday brought in new rules for allocation of symbols to Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs), making it mandatory for them to furnish audited accounts of last three financial years, expenditure statements of last two elections, and the signature of the authorised office-bearer of the party along with the application form for symbols.
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RUPPs are either newly-registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in the Assembly or general election to become a State party, or those that have never contested elections after being registered. Common symbols are provided to RUPPs based upon an undertaking that they would put up “at least 5% of total candidates with regard to said Legislative Assembly election of a State”.
In order to ensure transparency, the EC had in 2014 given directions that RUPPs wanting to avail the benefits of having a common symbol have to submit the proof of having filed up-to-date contribution reports, audited annual accounts, update of election expenditure statements, and their latest organisation details.
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“Earlier the RUPPs were giving these details separately. Now these details are being made part of the format of application for common symbol. Also, Annexure No. 3, which is a declaration that they have submitted the requisite reports, has been added to the application,” a senior EC official said.
The new rules would come into effect from January 11 this year.
The EC receives the applications from RUPPs in prescribed proforma for allotment of symbol under Provisions of Para 10B of the Election Symbols (Reservation & Allotment) Order, 1968. In September 2022, the EC had de-listed 86 non-existent RUPPs and declared another 253 as ‘Inactive RUPPs’.