ALLOCATION OF SYMBOLS TO POLITICAL PARTIES – POLITY
News:
Eknath Shinde faction recognized as real Shiv Sena, allocated ‘bow and arrow’
poll symbol
What's in the news?
● The
Election Commission of India on February 17 recognized the Eknath Shinde-led
faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the “bow and arrow”
poll symbol to it.
What are the Election Commission’s powers in a dispute
over the election symbol when a party splits?
● On
the question of a split in a political party outside the legislature, Para 15
of the Symbols Order, 1968, states: “When the Commission is satisfied… that
there are rival sections or groups of a recognized political party each of whom
claims to be that party the Commission may, after taking into account all the
available facts and circumstances of the case and hearing (their)
representatives… and other persons as desire to be heard decide that one such
rival section or group or none of such rival sections or groups is that
recognised political party and the decision
of the Commission shall be binding on all such rival sections or groups.”
● This
applies to disputes in recognized
national and state parties (like Shiv Sena, in this case).
● For
splits in registered but unrecognized
parties, the EC usually advises the warring factions to resolve their
differences internally or to approach the court.
What happens to the group that doesn’t get the parent
party’s symbol?
● The
EC in 1997 did not recognize the new parties as either state or national
parties. It felt that merely having MPs and MLAs is not enough, as the elected
representatives had fought and won polls on tickets of their parent (undivided)
parties.
● The
EC introduced a new rule under which
the splinter group of the party - other than the group that got the party
symbol - had to register itself as a
separate party, and could lay claim to national or state party status only
on the basis of its performance in state or central elections after registration.
Go back to basics:
Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order,
1968:
● The
Election Commission (EC) has plenary powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to decide on the allotment of
symbols.
● Election
Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, empowers the EC to allot symbols to the political parties at
elections in Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies.
● For
the purpose of this Order symbols are either reserved or free.
● Reserved symbol
is a symbol which is reserved for a recognized
political party for exclusive allotment to contesting candidates set up by
that party.
● Free symbol
is a symbol other than a reserved symbol.