ECI can't review if political party adheres to its constitution: Delhi HC

Justice Jyoti Singh said the Representation of People (RP) Act did not confer upon the Election Commission of India (ECI) any supervisory jurisdiction to scrutinise the conformity of its internal elections in line with its constitutional provisions.

The Delhi High Court has held that the Election Commission of India (ECI) does not have any supervisory jurisdiction to review whether a political party is following its constitution.

Justice Jyoti Singh said the Representation of People (RP) Act did not confer upon the ECI any supervisory jurisdiction to scrutinize the conformity of internal elections with the party's constitutional provisions. The court clarified that under Section 29A of the Act, the ECI's role is mainly limited to considering applications for the registration of any association or body of individual citizens as a political party and ensuring that any subsequent material changes are communicated for accurate records.

“…but once a political party is registered, Section 29A does not confer upon the ECI any supervisory jurisdiction to review whether the party adheres to its constitution and/or scrutinize the conformity of its internal elections with its constitutional provisions,” the court’s January 30 order stated.

Section 29A deals with the registration of associations and bodies with the ECI as political parties.

The high court was dealing with a petition filed by Parvendra Pratap Singh, the national president of the Bahujan Mukti Party. Singh sought a direction for the ECI to issue a fresh notice to convene the meeting of the party’s national working committee and elect office bearers after serving a proper notice to the members according to the guidelines in the party’s constitution. The petition also sought a direction to the ECI to accept and record the newly-elected office bearers of the party, who were elected in the national working committee in 2022.

The plea was opposed by the ECI counsel, who objected to the maintainability of the petition on the grounds that the ECI cannot be directed to resolve internal disputes within political parties.

The high court dismissed the petition for lack of merit and granted liberty to the petitioner to pursue civil remedies. “Bahujan Mukti Party is a registered unrecognised political party, and no direction can be issued to the ECI to exercise supervisory jurisdiction over its internal matters, such as elections, etc., let alone a direction to convene the meeting of the national working committee, as sought by the petitioner,” the court held.

The court referred to a judgment by its division bench, which stated that the ECI cannot resolve internal disputes within political parties. In case of any grievance, the remedy would lie in filing a declaratory suit or seeking another appropriate civil remedy.