ECI Lacks Supervisory Authority Over Internal Elections Of Political Parties: Delhi High Court
National President of the Bahujan Mukti Party sought a directive for the ECI to issue a fresh notice convening a meeting of the party's National Working Committee to elect office bearers in accordance with the party’s constitutional guidelines.
The Delhi High Court has ruled that the Election Commission of India (ECI) does not have supervisory authority over the internal elections of political parties under Section 29A of the Representation of People Act, 1951.
The Court’s ruling came in response to a plea filed by the National President of the Bahujan Mukti Party. He sought a directive for the ECI to issue a fresh notice convening a meeting of the party's National Working Committee to elect office bearers in accordance with the party’s constitutional guidelines. The petition also requested that the ECI recognize the newly elected office bearers from the 2022 National Working Committee election and record them officially.
A Bench of Justice Jyoti Singh clarified that while the ECI’s role under Section 29A is limited to considering applications for the registration of political parties and ensuring that any significant changes are properly communicated for record-keeping purposes, the Commission does not have the power to monitor or enforce compliance with a political party’s internal constitution. Specifically, the Court stated, “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 scrutinize the conformity of its internal elections with its constitutional provisions,”
The Court dismissed the petition, stating it lacked merit and reaffirmed that the ECI does not have the authority to oversee or intervene in the internal matters of unrecognized political parties, such as the Bahujan Mukti Party. The Court said, “In the present case, Bahujan Mukti Party is a registered unrecognized political party and no direction can be issued to ECI to exercise supervisory jurisdiction with respect to its internal matters relating to election etc. much less a direction to convene the meeting of the National Working Committee, a direction sought by the Petitioner,”
Cause Title: Pravendra Pratap Singh National President v. Election Commission Of India & Anr., [2025:DHC:693]
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocate Ali Md. Maaz
Respondent: Advocates Sidhant Kumar, Om Batra and Shagun Chopra
