GNLF seeks intervention of Amit Shah after ECI delists party
Darjeeling: The Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) has sought the intervention of Union Home minister Amit Shah after the Election Commission of India (ECI) delisted the party for not contesting elections independently over the past six years. The letter shot to Shah has left Opposition political camps crying foul, alleging that this proves that the ECI is under the influence of the BJP-led government.
Incidentally, the ECI was created to function as an autonomous constitutional authority to insulate it from executive and political influence. In a letter on Tuesday, Neeraj Tamang Zimba, Secretary General of the GNLF and MLA from Darjeeling, urged the Home minister to restore the party’s registration, calling the decision “unjust and contrary to the democratic ethos of the Republic”. “The GNLF is not a defunct organisation. We have been a steadfast alliance partner of the BJP-led NDA since 2019 and extended unconditional support to BJP candidates in the Hill constituencies. I myself contested and won the 2019 bypoll and the 2021 Assembly elections on the BJP symbol. Between 1989 and 2011, the GNLF contested 13 elections under its own symbol and won 10,” claimed Zimba.
He reminded the Centre that the GNLF, founded by Subash Ghisingh on April 5, 1980, has a historic legacy, having signed two landmark accords with the Union government—the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Accord of 1988 and the Sixth Schedule Accord of 2005. “To erase such a party on narrow technical grounds undermines not just our legacy but also the democratic rights of Indian Gorkhas,” Zimba said. Ghising had floated the party to spearhead the demand of a separate state of Gorkhaland.
The ECI on Friday announced the delisting of 474 political parties across India, including 12 from Bengal including the GNLF and the Kamtapur Progressive Party. The order cited rules that require parties to contest at least once in six years to retain registration.
While the commission has allowed appeals within 30 days, the GNLF insisted that delisting does not silence its political voice. “The GNLF is not a party that panics over listing or delisting. This is the party founded by Subash Ghisingh—should we be afraid of such things as delisting and listing? If we work for our people and our land, whatever challenges come our way, we are ready to accept them” stated Mann Ghising, president, GNLF.
“The BJP’s control over the ECI is clear with this move of the GNLF, an alliance partner of the BJP. If ECI is an autonomous body, then why write to Amit Shah, the Union Home minister to intervene? The ECI has its own criteria of delisting a party. How will the Union Home minister change this? It is a matter of great concern that the BJP led Government is in control of ECI,” stated SP Sharma, spokesperson, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM.) This proves the claims of Opposition parties that the ECI is influenced, alleged the spokesperson.
