The Election Commission on Friday said that it has delisted 474 registered unrecognised political parties for failing to meet regulatory requirements, including not contesting any elections over the past six years.
This was the second time this year the commission removed parties from its register to clean up the electoral system.
On August 9, it had delisted 334 parties for similar violations.
Before the second round of delisting, 2,520 unrecognised political parties were registered in the country. The number has now fallen to 2,046, PTI reported.
Political parties in India are registered with the Election Commission under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Once registered, a party becomes eligible for various benefits, including the allotment of an election symbol, tax exemptions and other advantages.
According to the Election Commission’s registration guidelines, a party that fails to contest elections for six consecutive years is liable to be removed from the list of registered political parties.
As of now, six national parties and 67 recognised state parties are registered with the Election Commission.
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