Election Commission intensifies electoral clean-up: 474 more parties delisted, spotlight on Jammu & Kashmir

New Delhi/Jammu, Sept 19: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has intensified its nationwide exercise to strengthen the integrity of the electoral system by delisting another 474 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) across 30 States and Union Territories, including Jammu and Kashmir. The large-scale clean-up, now in its second phase, follows the earlier removal of 334 outfits in August, taking the total number of delisted parties to 808 in just two months.

Under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, any association registered as a political party enjoys several privileges, including entitlement to a symbol and tax exemptions. However, the law and ECI guidelines clearly stipulate that if a party fails to contest elections continuously for six years, it is liable to be removed from the rolls.

The Commission has been pursuing this clean-up drive since 2019 as part of a broader strategy to weed out dormant and non-compliant political outfits that exist only on paper. The removal of such entities, it stressed, is essential to safeguard transparency and credibility in India’s electoral democracy.

In Jammu and Kashmir, 12 RUPPs have been struck off the list in the second phase, underscoring the poll body’s determination to bring the region’s political space in line with national standards of compliance. These include little-known and inactive parties that failed to contest any elections over the last six years, many of which could not even be traced at their registered addresses.

Alongside the delistings, the Commission has now turned its focus to parties that may have contested elections but failed to comply with financial transparency requirements. In the third phase of the drive, 359 RUPPs from 23 States and UTs  including parties from J&K have been identified for not submitting their mandatory annual audited accounts for the past three financial years (2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24) and for failing to file election expenditure reports.

Nationwide Breakdown of Action:

• • Phase 1 (August 9, 2025): 334 RUPPs delisted.
  • Phase 2 (September 18, 2025): 474 RUPPs delisted, including 121 in Uttar Pradesh, 44 in Maharashtra, 42 in Tamil Nadu, 40 in Delhi, 21 in Punjab, and 12 in Jammu & Kashmir.
  • Total so far: 808 RUPPs delisted in two months.

Phase 3 (initiated): 359 RUPPs identified for non-submission of financial accounts and expenditure reports, spread across 23 States and UTs.

The Election Commission has directed the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of the respective States and UTs, including the CEO of Jammu & Kashmir, to issue show-cause notices to the defaulting parties. Each will be given an opportunity to present its case before the CEOs submit their recommendations to the Commission for a final decision.

The ECI clarified that this initiative is not aimed at curbing political diversity but at ensuring that parties benefiting from electoral privileges also shoulder their responsibilities. By eliminating non-functional outfits, the Commission hopes to ensure that the democratic space is reserved for serious, transparent, and accountable political actors.

For Jammu and Kashmir, a Union Territory with a complex political history and a long wait for Assembly elections, the delisting exercise carries particular importance. It signals that the Election Commission is determined to streamline the region’s political landscape, ensuring that only genuine, active parties remain part of the system as and when electoral processes are revived.

With over 800 inactive parties already removed nationwide, and further scrutiny of financial compliance underway, the ECI has reaffirmed its commitment to cleaning up the electoral rolls and reinforcing public faith in the democratic system.