The Delhi High Court has held the Election Commission of India did not have any supervisory jurisdiction to review whether a political party was following its constitution.Justice Jyoti Singh said the Representation of People (RP) Act did not confer upon the Election Commission of India (ECI) any supervisory jurisdiction to scrutinise the conformity of its internal elections in line with its constitutional provisions.
The court said under Section 29A of the Act, the task of the ECI was mainly limited to considering applications for registration of any association or body of individual citizens as a political party and ensuring any subsequent material changes were communicated for the sake of accurate records.
“… but once a political party is registered, Section 29A does not confer upon the ECI any supervisory jurisdiction to review whether the party adheres to its constitution and/or to scrutinise the conformity of its internal elections with its constitutional provisions,” the court’s January 30 order said.
Section 29A deals with registration of associations and bodies with the EC as political parties.
The high court was dealing with a petition by Parvendra Pratap Singh, the national president of Bahujan Mukti Party.