NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by the Janata Party challenging the Election Commission’s directive that election symbols be reserved solely for recognised political parties.
The bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, highlighted that the Supreme Court and the High Court had previously settled this matter in other cases.
The court clarified that political parties could not claim symbols as their exclusive property, especially when the symbols could be lost due to poor electoral performance. The bench firmly said, “In light of prior rulings, the petitioner’s challenge to the constitutional validity of the order is without merit. Hence, the petition is dismissed.”
The Janata Party’s counsel contended that the party, once recognised, should retain the right to its traditional symbol—a plough on a farmer’s shoulder—even after losing recognition.
The counsel argued that an election symbol is inherently tied to a political party, regardless of its recognition status. He contended that the election symbol order unfairly discriminates between recognised and unrecognised parties. He further said that the order should not strip a party of its symbol simply because it failed to secure 6 per cent of the valid votes in the previous election.
Advocate Sidhant Kumar, representing the EC, countered that this issue had already been addressed and resolved by the Supreme Court in a previous case involving Subramanian Swamy.
The court agreed, affirming that the matter was no longer open for debate, thereby supporting the Election Commission’s stance.