NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has upheld the allotment of the free symbols by the Election Commission of India to unrecognised political parties on a first come, first served basis while dismissing a plea by Tamil Nadu-based party, Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), to obtain the Sugarcane Farmer (Ganna Kisaan) symbol.
A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora rejected the challenge against the policy by NTK which was aggrieved by the allotment of the free symbol to another political party in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the upcoming LS elections.
“This court is of the view that if the plea of the petitioner is accepted, the same will operate against the essence of ‘free symbols’, as it will take away the rights and benefits granted to the unrecognised political parties to contest the elections with a free and common symbol,” the HC noted.
It added that the petitioner, by the proposed re-phrasing, is seeking to retain an advantage for the registered unrecognised political parties to get continued access to a particular free symbol and therefore indirectly converting a free symbol into a reserved symbol.
As per the ECI, the provisions of the policy were not arbitrary or unconstitutional and that the Ganna Kisan symbol was allotted to the other political party as it had applied for it first. The High Court, in its order, observed that the application for allotment of the free symbol was filed by the other political party on December 17, 2023, at 10.01 am, while NTK had filed it only on January 9, 2024. “We accordingly, find no merit in the present petition and the same is dismissed along with pending application,” the court ordered.