Delhi High Court upholds Election Commission's first-come-first-served criteria for allotting free election symbols

The Delhi High Court recently upheld the first-come-first-served policy adopted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for allotment of free election symbols to unrecognised political parties [Naam Tamilar Katchi Through its President v. Election Commission of India & Anr]..A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora rejected the plea filed by a Tamil Nadu-based political party named Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), which received a vote share of around 6.87% in the 2021 State elections.The Court said that the ECI's provision is consistent, non-discriminatory and applies uniformly to all eligible applicants.“This Court is of the view that if the plea of the Petitioner Party is accepted, the same will operate against the essence of ‘free symbols’, as it will take away the rights and benefits granted to the unrecognised political parties to contest the elections with a free and common symbol. The Petitioner by the proposed re-phrasing is seeking to retain an advantage for the registered unrecognized political parties to get continued access to a particular free symbol and therefore indirectly converting a free symbol into a reserved symbol,” the Court said..NTK had sought striking down of Paragraph 10B(B), Explanation (iv) and Provisos 1 and 2 to the said Explanation of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968..Explanation (iv) provides that allotment of common symbols will be done on ‘first-come-first-served’ basis. Proviso 1 says that if two or more parties apply for the same symbol on the same date, then the ECI will decide the allotment by draw of lots. Proviso 2 says that if two or more political parties apply for the same symbol on the same date, and if one of the parties was allotted the symbol earlier, then that party will be allotted the symbol in question..In its plea, NTK had also demanded that it should be given the election symbol ‘Ganna Kisan’ as had been done in previous elections. The party argued that the phrase ‘same date’ in the provisos to Explanation (iv) should be replaced to permit equal consideration to all applications received by ECI within a given window period, together and not on a particular date..After considering the case, the Bench held that the arguments would render Explanation (iv) otiose, and that the Court cannot rewrite a statute.“Firstly, the submission of the Petitioner Party ignores the repetitive occurrence of the phrase ‘same date’ as it appears in each of the three Proviso(s) to the said Explanation (iv). Secondly, the consequence of alleged re-casting of the said Proviso(s) 1 and 2 as sought by the Petitioner Party would render otiose the Explanation (iv) itself, which provides that the allotment will be made on the principle of ‘first-come-first-served’ basis. The suggestion of the Petitioner, if accepted would do violence to Explanation (iv). Thirdly, it is well-settled principle of law that the Court cannot rewrite the statute,” the Bench observed.It also upheld the allotment of the symbol ‘Ganna Kisan’ in favour of another political party..Senior Advocate Haripriya Padhmanabhan argued the case for the petitioner political party. He was assisted by Advocates Priya R, Manoj Kumar, Shrutanjaya Bhardwaj and Omkar Hemanth.The Election Commission of India (ECI) was represented through its Standing Counsel Ankit Agarwal and Advocate Ashish Shukla. .[Read Judgment]