New Delhi, 9 August

The Election Commission on Saturday said it has delisted 334 registered unrecognised political parties which have failed to fulfil the essential condition of contesting even a single election for six years since 2019.

The offices of these parties could also not be physically located anywhere.

These 334 registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP) are from different states and Union Territories across the country, the poll panel said.

Out of the total 2,854 registered unrecognised political parties, 2,520 remain after the cleanup exercise. At present, there are six national parties and 67 state parties.

In June this year, the poll authority had started proceedings against 345 such parties and finally delisted 334.

Since 2001, the EC has weeded out defunct RUPPs "three to four" times, officials said. The Supreme Court had earlier barred the poll panel from "derecognising" political parties, noting that it was not prescribed under law.

However, the EC has found a way to "delist parties". Those delisted can be listed again by the poll authority without getting into the process of giving them fresh recognition, a former EC functionary pointed out.

Some RUPPs were, in the past, seen flouting income tax laws and the anti-money laundering law.

Political parties (national/state/RUPPs) in the country are registered with the EC under the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act 1951.

Under this provision, any association once registered as a political party gets certain privileges and advantages, such as tax exemptions, amongst others.

This exercise has been conducted with the aim of cleaning up the political system and delisting of such parties which have not contested any election to the Lok Sabha or Legislative Assemblies of states/UTs or byelections since 2019, and those which could not be physically traced as well, the officials said.

The latest move comes ahead of the Bihar polls. Parties delisted cannot field their candidates to contest elections.