Delhi HC rejects plea to reserve symbol by unrecognised political party
Delhi HC dismissed Rashtriya Bahujan Congress's plea for symbol reservation, stating only recognized parties can reserve election symbols.
The Delhi high court on Friday dismissed a plea by the unrecognised Rashtriya Bahujan Congress (RBC) party seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to reserve its “sewing machine” symbol, stating that courts lack the authority to grant such requests.

A division bench of chief justice DK Upadhyay and justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that under the Election Symbol (Reservation & Allotment) Order, 1968, symbols can only be reserved for political parties that are “recognised”.
To be sure, the order provides for reservation, allotment and choice of symbols for recognising political parties during parliamentary and assembly polls. Clause 5 of the order reserves symbols of a recognised political party for exclusive allotment to contesting candidates.
“You cannot ask for reservation on that (election symbol). Reserved symbols are only given to recognised political parties. You’re asking for the reservation of a symbol, we can’t do that,” the bench told the counsel appearing for the petitioner Dr SR Saran – the RBC president.
The decision follows a similar rejection last week by another bench, which dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of the order. Referring to Subramanian Swamy vs Union of India (2008), the Supreme Court had ruled that election symbols are not the exclusive property of political parties and can only be reserved for recognised parties.
The apex court was dealing with a petition filed by Janata Party challenging Clause 10 A of the order. The said section permitted a party to retain its symbol for six years after losing its status as a recognised political party.
The RBC had approached the division bench challenging the single judge’s October 1, 2024, order rejecting its plea seeking reservation of its election symbol. In the plea filed before the high court, the party had argued it had contested elections for 20 years using the “sewing machine” symbol and accused the ECI of mala fide intent to allocate the symbol elsewhere. However, the court found no merit in the claim, reinforcing that the party’s unrecognised status barred it from symbol reservation.
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