'Can appeal before the Commission within 30 days': ECI delists 12 parties, including GNLF, for 6 years of poll inactivity

Kolkata: A dozen registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs) in Bengal have been delisted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for not taking part in the election process for the last six years. These RUPPs are among the 474 across the country that were delisted by the poll panel. The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding Gorkhaland states within India, is the most well-known party that has been delisted by the Commission. GNLF had won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in 1989 and held three Assembly seats – Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong till 2011.

Another political party in North Bengal Kamtapur Progressive Party founded by Atul Roy has also been delisted by the ECI for the same reason. Nationalist Trinamul Congress Party, Ambedkarbadi Party, Global People Peace Party, Mai Hee Bharat, National Confederacy of India, Nirjatita Samaj Biplabi Party, Parbatiaya Prajatantrik Party, Paschim Banga Rajya Muslim League, Right Party of India and The Religion of Man Revolving Political Party of India are also in this list. The office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) had sought a written representation duly accompanied by an affidavit from the President or General Secretary of these parties with all supporting documents on which the party proposes to rely by August 27. The CEO office conducted a hearing on August 29 in which only five of the 12 parties turned up. The proceedings of the hearing were forwarded to the ECI by the CEO office for their verdict on the fate of these parties. GNLF party chief Mann Ghising, who appeared in the hearing, claimed to have supported BJP candidate Raju Bista in the 2019 and 2024 polls. He demanded that GNLF’s secretary general, Neeraj Zimba, had also won the bypolls in 2019 and Assembly polls in 2021 on a BJP ticket from Darjeeling. There is a provision for the aggrieved parties even after the latest poll body order to appeal before the commission within 30 days. In this backdrop, the GNLF declared that it would appeal before the EC to reconsider the delisting. It issued a press statement assuring its supporters and the public at large that delisting is not a ban. “It affects only certain statutory privileges such as common symbols and tax exemptions. It does not erase our history, silence our voice, or prevent us from functioning as a political organisation,” read the statement. According to an EC official, a political party after registration gets several benefits like entitlement to accept contributions, income tax exemption, as well as the facility of a common symbol, preference over independent candidates on a ballot paper, star campaigners etc. during elections.