How can You Start a Political Party?
India has more political parties that you'd imagine. This is because the process of registration is simple. How does it work?
Everyone loves a unicorn. In the startup world, a unicorn is company valued at over $1 billion. These companies are characterized by rapid growth, user love, and a promise of dominating the industry. Ola, Byju’s, Paytm, and Swiggy are all shining examples.
If you think about a unicorn in the political world, there’s one name that immediately comes to mind – the Aam Aadmi Party (‘AAP’).
Born out of protests against corruption, this Arvind Kejriwal-led party has managed to become a darling of the voters within just eight years. Most recently, AAP won its first ever seat in Goa in the Zilla Panchayat elections. Kejriwal also announced that they would contest the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2022. Talk about blitzscaling.
This got us thinking. Starting a political party seems like a lucrative career option. The question is – how exactly does one go about it? Today’s story explains.
It’s a Party
Registering a political party is a straightforward process. Under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a group of Indian citizens calling themselves a political party must apply the Election Commission of India (‘ECI’) for registration. The ECI has prescribed detailed guidelines for this.
A political party seeking registration must file an application with details such as –
(a) Name and objectives of the party;
(b) Details of officer-bearers;
(c) Rules of conduct;
(d) Party’s funds and accounts; and,
(e) Procedure for merger and dissolution.
Subsequently, a public notice will be issued stating that a new political party has sought registration. Members of the public can raise objections with the ECI within one month. If everything proceeds satisfactorily, the ECI will confirm the party’s registration and allow it to select a symbol.
The fee for this entire process is ₹10,000.
Registered but Unrecognized
Given how simple the registration process is, how many parties do you think we have? 100? 500? 1,000? Turns out, India has more than 2,500 registered political parties and more applications are still pending with the ECI.
This is where things get interesting. Of the thousands of registrations, only seven national parties and 64 state parties are ‘recognized.’
Under the law, registration and recognition are different concepts. To be recognized in a state, a political party must fulfil certain conditions like –
(a) being in engaged in political activity for at least five years; and,
(b) securing a minimum of six percent of the total votes polled in the state’s last general election.
Only when a party meets such criteria can it become a recognized state party. And to become a national party, it must get recognized in four or more states.
One of the key benefits of being recognized is that it allows the party to reserve a symbol, which plays a crucial role in defining the party’s identity.
Black Money Concerns
The ECI is fully aware that many of the 2,500 registered political parties can be fronts for purposes like money laundering. According to reports, an official commented, “A vast majority of these parties will never contest elections, or may use their status to turn black money into white.”
From time-to-time, the ECI delists inactive parties. In 2016, it took 255 parties off the record for being dormant. What are the rest of the parties doing after being registered? That is anyone’s guess.
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