Standing by its decision to reject the Aam Aadmi Party’s contention against registration of the Aapki Apni Party (Peoples) as a political party, the Election Commission (EC) told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that it registers political parties by their full name and not by abbreviations.
The Aam Aadmi Party has sought deregistration of the new party on the grounds that their abbreviations — AAP — will be the same, which could confuse voters. The EC’s counsel submitted before the HC that the panel registers political parties by their full names and not by abbreviations, so there won’t be any confusion. Giving a list of various parties which have similar abbreviations, the EC said there was already another party registered with the same abbreviation when the Aam Aadmi Party was registered in 2013. Justice C. Hari Shankar listed the case for further hearing on February 22, after the counsel for Aapki Apni Party (Peoples) sought time to file its response to the Aam Aadmi Party’s petition.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s petition has claimed that the new party’s name sounded similar and that could confuse voters.
The Aam Aadmi Party has sought quashing of the EC’s July 16 order rejecting its objection against registration of Aapki Apni Party (Peoples) as a political party under provisions of the Representation of People Act.
Published - November 14, 2018 01:56 am IST
