The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition challenging allotment of the free symbols by the Election Commission to unrecognised political parties on first come, first served basis.
A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and also comprising Justice Manmeet PS Arora rejected the contention of the petitioner, Naam Tamilar Katchi, that the Election Symbols Order to this effect was arbitrary and unconstitutional, saying a contrary view would operate against the very essence of having free symbols.
The petitioner, an unrecognised political party, was aggrieved by the allotment of free symbol 'ganna kisan' (sugarcane farmer) to another political party in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Contending that the policy was unconstitutional, the petitioner said all applications filed within the valid window period for allotment of a free symbol should be considered by the Election Commission at the same footing and therefore the 'ganna kisan' symbol should be allotted to it as it has fought six elections since 2019 on that.
"This Court is of the view that if the plea of the Petitioner Party is accepted, the same will operate against the essence of ‘free symbols’, as it will take away the rights and benefits granted to the unrecognised political parties to contest the elections with a free and common symbol.
"The Petitioner by the proposed re-phrasing is seeking to retain an advantage for the registered unrecognized political parties to get continued access to a particular free symbol and therefore indirectly converting a free symbol into a reserved symbol," the court observed in a recent order.
In the present case, the court noted, the information with respect to the first date for receiving applications was published several months in advance and while the petitioner applied for the 'ganna kisan' symbol on February 9, the successful political party made the application on the first date itself.
"The Petitioner as noted above, was fully aware of the ‘first’ acceptance date for application as 17th December, 2023 and its significance in the scheme of Paragraph 10B (B) of the Election Symbols Order and had made use of the same to its advantage in the past," said the court.
"We accordingly, find no merit in the present petition and the same is dismissed along with pending applications," the court ordered.
