‘Can’t punish parties for not being socialist’

A political party cannot be derecognised for ditching the principles of socialism, which it swears by at the time of registration, the Election Commission has said, reports Satya Prakash.

A political party cannot be derecognised for ditching the principles of socialism, which it swears by at the time of registration, the Election Commission has said. “There is no provision for de-recognising a political party for swearing allegiance to socialism but…not adhering to the principles of socialism in actual practice,” the EC said in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.

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The affidavit has been filed in response to a public interest petition by Good Governance India Foundation challenging the 42nd constitutional amendment enacted in 1976, during Emergency, that added the words “socialist” and “secular” in the Preamble to the Constitution. Most of the political parties, which pledge allegiance to socialism to get them registered, were violating it and in the changed political and economic scenario it had no meaning, the Foundation had said.

“An enquiry into non-compliance with the conditions for the grant of registration might involve the Commission in matters of political nature and could mean monitoring…of the political activities, programmes and ideologies of political parties,” the EC said quoting from the SC verdict in the Indian National Congress vs. Institute of Social Welfare case.

The Commission emphasised that neither the Election Symbols Order nor Section 29-A of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) conferred any power on it to deregister a political party for violating constitutional provisions or the undertaking given at the time of registration. The EC said a political party could be de-recognised only if it changes it’s nomenclature, rules and regulations abrogating the provisions conforming to the RPA or intimates the Commission that it no longer had faith in the Constitution or it has been declared unlawful by the Central Government.

The court had earlier asked the Centre and EC to respond to the petitioner’s plea to strike down the mandatory requirement under the RPA for a political party seeking registration to pledge allegiance to socialism. In the alternative, the petitioner had sought de-recognition of all parties which have sworn allegiance to socialist ideology despite pursuing contrary objectives.

The petitioner had termed the 42nd Amendment as an attempt to create a particular ideological basis for adherence to the Constitution. However, the court had refused to consider the challenge to Section 2(a) of the 42nd Amendment Act that added the word “socialist” to the Preamble, saying socialism was a facet of democracy and welfare state and it should not be taken in a narrower sense as construed by communists.