A Division Bench of the Madras High Court, comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy has in the case of Indiya Jananayaga Katchi v. Chief Election Commissioner of India, Election Commission of India & Ors. observed that 'right to participate' in any election also includes 'right to stand' in elections and directed the Election Commission to permit representations made by the Political Parties for the allotment of independent symbols.
“A constructive and liberal view should be taken to allow greater participation in the festival of democracy. As much as a citizen has a right to vote, a citizen also has a right to stand for election, subject to the applicable rules.”
Factual Background
The above observation was made by the Court while dealing with the two Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, by two political parties, for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the Respondents to consider the application of the Petitioner and allot a Free symbol to be used as Common symbol for the petitioner's party from the Free Symbol List as the Election Symbol for the Petitioners for the 2021 Tamil Nadu State Assembly Elections which were held on 06.04.2021 within a specified time.
Contentions for the Petitioners
The Petitioners belonged to two different political parties. The Counsel on the behalf of the Petitioner complained that because of the rejection of their applications by the Election Commission for the allotment of an election symbol each for the ensuing assembly elections would create a hindrance in the election. It was further contended that they could not stand in Election as well.
Contentions for the Respondent
The Counsel on the behalf of the Respondent referred to Clause 10B of Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 which entailed two necessary conditions for allotment of Election Symbols were as follows:
(i) The application ought to be made at least five days before the notification is issued.
(ii) It ought to be supported by the signatures of a fixed number of its office-bearers.
It was contended that in the present Writ Petitions, the applications were made in time permissible but the applications were not signed by the Office bearers. That’s why the applications were rejected. In addition to All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi, there was a third applicant, Puthiya Thamizhagam, whose application was rejected on identical grounds.
Court Reasoning & Judgment
The Court expressed that the applications in the present cases were filed within time, but were found to be defective. The requirement in the said Order of 1968 was the adherence to the time for applying for symbols. There was no provision for the correction of a defective application. Finally the Court held that:
“The Election Commission submits that if the two petitioners herein renew the applications already made within time in course of the day, the Election Commission will reconsider the same in appropriate perspective.”
The Court also instructed the Election Commission to communicate this Order to all the other political parties who had not approached to the Court so that:
“they can also got an opportunity to renew its application and re- present the same in course of today for reconsidering the matter on the same lines as in respect of the two petitioning parties herein.”
Therefore, the Bench disposed of the Writ Petition without imposing any cost on it and by permitting the petitioning party in either case to immediately renew the applications for allotment of symbol filed with the Election Commission for the Election Commission to consider the same afresh and communicate a decision by March 17, 2021.
Case Details
Case: W.P.Nos.6702 and 6892 of 2021
Petitioner: Indiya Jananayaga Katchi, registered political party & All India Samathuva Makhal Katchi
Respondent: The Chief Election Commissioner of India, Election Commission of India & Ors.
Counsels for the Petitioner: Mr. AR. L. Sundaresan & Mr. P. Chandrasekaran
Counsels for the Respondent: Mr. Niranjan Rajagopalan
Quorum: Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy
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