NEW DELHI: Registration of political parties has recorded a spike in last two years as every alternate day a new political outfit has come up in some or the other part of the country. Nearly 500 new political parties have registered with the Election Commission between April 2019 and August 2021. Besides, over 100 new political outfits have applied for registration in past two months alone.
As per the latest EC data, the number of unrecognised political parties has increased from 2,301 to 2,796 during the above period, recording a jump of over 20 per cent. Currently, there are eight national parties and over 50 state parties.
A close look at the 2019 Lok Sabha election data showed negligible participation of these unrecognised parties in the polls. As per the EC only 0.06% of votes were secured by such parties during in 2019.
Officials said while the registration process of political parties is easy, their role in unlawful or corrupt activities can’t be denied. “In some cases, these smaller parties also eat into the vote shares of the bigger ones. These parties might also be used for money laundering as they are exempted from income tax,” said an official.
Lack of transparency has also been observed with respect to these unrecognised outfits. Advocate Umesh Sharma said most of such parties have ulterior motives. “Some indulge in corrupt activities as they are free to collect donations and enjoy tax exemption even if they don’t contest polls.”
Sharma added that sometimes, bigger political parties use the infrastructure of these parties during campaigning. “There is a limit on the use of vehicles and other logistics. In such cases, logistics issued in the name of unrecognised parties are used by the big ones.”