Prove your mettle before seeking symbol: HC to Swaraj India

Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj India's plea for a common symbol for its candidate contesting the upcoming MCD polls was today rejected by the Delhi High Court which asked it to first "make a place for itself under the Sun" and "prove its mettle".
Justice Hima Kohli rejected the newly formed political party's claim that denial of a common symbol to it was a violation of its fundamental rights under the Constitution, saying "The right to elect and be elected is a statutory right and not a fundamental or common law right".
The judge said a newly formed political party is not entitled as a matter of right to claim exclusive allotment of a common election symbol for the benefit of the candidates nominated by it at the Municipal elections.

"Instead, its candidates are required to choose from one of the free symbols notified by the State Election Commission (SEC)," the court said and added that in view of this legal position the party "cannot raise a grievance it was being discriminated against.
"As the position stands today, it cannot be stated that there has been any discrimination against petitioner (Swaraj India) on account of declining reservation of a common symbol for its exclusive use on the ground that it is not a recognized political party.
"This time, the petitioner shall have to enter the fray by participating in the MCD elections as an unrecognized registered political party and make a place for itself under the sun. Only after proving its mettle, can it seek recognition as a registered political party and as a corollary thereto, claim entitlement to a common symbol..," the court said.

It also said that since the electronic voting machines would now carry photographs of the candidates, Swaraj India would not be put to any disadvantage if there was no common symbol.

The court agreed with the argument of the State Election Commission (SEC), represented by advocate Sumeet Pushkarna, that the party did not come to the court at the earliest despite being aware that the poll process was imminent.
Swaraj India had claimed that the Election Commission of
India (ECI) and the SEC of some other states have relaxed the norms for grant of a common symbol to unrecognized registered political parties and blamed the Delhi SEC for not doing so.

Rejecting the contention, the court said merely because the ECI and other SECs have relaxed the norms it "cannot be a ground to find fault" with the Delhi SEC.
The court noted that the SEC here had written to the Delhi government proposing amendment to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Rules with regard to grant of common symbol to unrecognized registered political parties and that the poll panel intended to undertake a wider consultation before taking such a decision.
"The said the approach of caution and care adopted by the Delhi SEC for stipulating the quantum of concession, if any, that can be given to registered unrecognized political parties for grant of a common symbol, cannot be faulted," it said.

The court in its 45-page order praised the functioning of the ECI and SECs, saying "Over the years they have not failed to live up to the aspirations of the citizens for conducting smooth, free and fair elections on time".
"The ECI and SECs have established themselves as non-partisan and robust institutions, that provide a strong bulwark of checks and balances for maintaining the purity of the election process," it said.
The court also said that in their "quest for perfecting the franchise system in the country", the ECI and the SECs "have been inventing and reinventing themselves and coming up with new measures to make the process as transparent as is possible".

"It is in furtherance to discharging the said duty that the Delhi SEC has for the first time decided that photographs of candidates shall appear on the ballot papers and electronic voting machines in the ensuing MCD elections, 2017," it said.
The court passed the order on a plea challenging the Delhi SEC's decision not to allot a common symbol to Swaraj India to contest the upcoming MCD polls.
Swaraj India, registered by the ECI in February this year, had sought quashing of the panel's March 14, 2017 notification and an April 2016 order which said the nominees of such parties would be treated as independent candidates for allotment of symbols.

Swaraj India was floated in October last year by Yadav and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who were expelled from the AAP after they questioned Arvind Kejriwal's leadership.