Govt, EC Get SC Notice On Plea To Frame Rules For Registration, Regulation Of Political Parties

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Centre on a plea seeking directions to ensure that every political party publishes its memorandum, rules and regulations on the home page of its official website.

A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi sought a response from the ECI, the Law Ministry and the Law Commission.

The application was filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay in an already pending PIL seeking directions to frame rules for registration and regulation of political parties in order to ensure secularism, transparency and political justice.

The application sought to direct the poll panel to use its plenary power to issue appropriate orders or directions to ensure compliance with Section 29B and Section 29C of the Representation of the People's Act and place the compliance report before the court.

"The political parties have been given statutory status under Section 29A of the RPA, and they are required to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution as by law established. Political parties give tickets to candidates and people vote on party symbols and, thus, the political parties are important instrumentalities of the democratic governance and function like a public authority," the application stated.

It further said that the entire governance system revolves around the political parties, and they are continuously engaged in the performance of public duty, and it is, therefore, important that they become accountable to the public.

"Transparency and accountability in the working of the political parties is essential in the public interest, as they perform public functions, and, therefore, ECI must frame rules and regulations for them," it added.

On September 12, the apex court had sought a response from the ECI on the PIL filed by Upadhyay seeking a direction to take steps to reduce the menace of corruption, casteism, communalism, criminalisation, and money laundering in politics.

It had sought direction from the Centre to frame comprehensive rules governing the registration and functioning of political parties.

The plea had alleged that "bogus political parties" were not only posing a serious threat to democracy but also maligning the country by appointing hardcore criminals, kidnappers, drug smugglers and money launderers as national and state office bearers after taking huge amounts of money from them.

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