HC grants EC two weeks to reply on PIL seeking model election procedure for political parties

The Delhi High Court, on Tuesday, granted two weeks time to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to file its response on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to formulate the norms of democracy within the political parties. The petition alleged that various provisions related to the organisational elections are not being followed by the political parties.

The bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla gave the ECI two more weeks to come up with its response.

The Court noted that the notice was issued to the ECI in October last year, but the commission is yet to come up with a response.

The petition sought direction from the Respondent Election Commission of India, directing them to formulate and notify a Model Procedure for Elections with respect to the intra-party elections.

The petition filed by C Rajshekaran stated that there is a demonstrably feudal and oligarchic nature of the functioning of most political parties in India. This leads to ineffective democratic processes within the said political parties. The Petitioner was represented by Advocate Abhimanyu Tiwari.

The same petitioner had approached the Delhi HC in January last year also and the court had asked the ECI to decide the representation of the petitioner.

It was alleged that there is a lack of adequate regulatory oversight of said internal elections in political parties by the Respondent-Election Commission.

The petition sought a direction from the Election commission to frame a Model Election Procedure for political parties, and further direct all political parties registered with it to mandatorily integrate the said model election procedure in their respective constitutions.

The petition further asked for the issuance of directions by the Election Commission, mandating external monitors to observe and ensure transparent and fair internal elections for the political parties.

It was submitted by the petitioner, that it is a settled position of law that democracy is a crucial aspect of the basic structure of the constitution.

Further, the said concept of democracy has evolved to include evolved standards of transparency and accountability, which is evidenced by the Right To Information being recognized as a crucial right in electoral democracy. The subsequent passage of the Right to Information Act, and the various judgments of the Supreme Court called for greater accountability and transparency in the electoral system, including election financing, information on political candidates and adherence, etc.

( With inputs from ANI )

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