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Caste-based politics can distort spirit of democracy, says SC
The Supreme Court warns against caste and regional politics, equating them to communal politics, and calls for broader reforms in political party governance.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday underscored the dangers of caste-based and regional politics in a democratic setup, equating them with communal politics in their ability to distort the spirit of representative democracy. The observations came as the court refused to entertain a plea seeking the deregistration and derecognition of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), instead urging a broader re-look at political party reforms.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, while hearing a petition filed by Tirupati Narasimha Murari, a Shiv Sena member who had challenged the legality of AIMIM’s registration with the Election Commission of India (ECI), said, “Let us not confine to only parties propagating communal ideas. There are regional parties which do regional politics and then there are politics asking for votes on caste. They are equally dangerous.”
Murari had approached the apex court against a November 2024 order of the Delhi high court that had dismissed his plea to deregister AIMIM, a party he claimed was violating the principle of secularism by promoting the interests of one religious community.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain argued that AIMIM’s constitution promotes Islamic education and is based on religious identity, which, he submitted, contravenes the secular mandate embedded in the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA).
“You can’t seek votes in the name of religion. If I go before ECI and seek registration under a Hindu name, it won’t be accepted,” Jain told the bench, invoking the Supreme Court’s precedent in Abhiram Singh Vs CD Commachen, where it was held that appealing for votes on the basis of religion, caste, or community amounts to a corrupt electoral practice.
However, the bench was not persuaded to intervene in the party’s registration. “The party’s Constitution says it will work for the backward classes, both economically and educationally. There are certain rights guaranteed to minorities in the Constitution... the party manifesto says it will work towards protection of those rights,” the court remarked.
On the point of AIMIM’s emphasis on Islamic education, the bench said: “If ECI raises an objection against the teaching of the Vedas or anything else, you may go to the appropriate forum. There is absolutely no prohibition under the law on reading old treatises, books, or literature.”
While declining to interfere with AIMIM’s registration, the court stressed the need for systemic reforms in the governance of political parties, particularly in light of growing concerns over the communal, casteist or regionalist appeals in electoral discourse.
“There is scope for widespread reforms in the governance of political parties…But that needs to be raised in an appropriate petition. If the court finds merit in such a petition, it will call upon all political parties to express their views,” it added.
The court said that the existing legal framework, including the Abhiram Singh verdict and provisions under the RPA, already offers recourse where a political candidate is found using religion to seek votes. “You have a remedy in law… seek their disqualification,” the bench observed.
The petitioner then withdrew the current plea with liberty to file a fresh petition with a broader challenge against communal, caste-based, and regionalist politics across party lines.
Founded in 1958, AIMIM was registered as a political party with ECI in 1992 and recognised as a state party in Telangana in 2014. It has had a sustained presence in the Lok Sabha from the Hyderabad constituency since 1984.
Under Section 29A, any political party seeking registration must declare true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India, and to the principles of socialism, secularism, and democracy. The court found no evidence that AIMIM had violated these requirements.
