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Synopsis

A division bench of the Supreme Court today asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to file its counter in the plea against usage of religious symbols by political parties before the next date of hearing.

Accordingly, a bench of Justices MR Shah and Hima Kohli has listed the matter on November 25, 2022 for further consideration.

When the matter was taken up today, the counsel appearing on behalf of ECI told court that they had received notice just last week and thus asked for some time to file their reply.

"We are not taking it (the plea) to be adversarial, we will take suggestions...", ECI further told court.

To this, Justice MR Shar replied by saying, "You are supposed to give suggestions."

On hearing ECI's request to grant at least two weeks' time to file its reply, the Court said,

"You are supposed to work on a time scheme, you conduct elections no..."

Top Court had last heard the present plea in September when a bench of Justices MR Shah and Krishna Murari had issued notice to the Election Commission of India and the Central government

Filed by one Jitendra Tyagi, earlier known as Syed Waseem Rizvi, the plea has also sought cancellation of the symbol or name of such parties which symbolise any religion.

Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia, appearing for the petitioner had submitted before the top court that such usage of symbols violates the provisions of the Representation of People Act, 1951. Bhatia further told the court that political parties cannot have a religious connotation.

Before issuing notice, the top court remarked that many parties like Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) may use religious symbols but they do not contest elections. 

Responding to this statement, Senior Advocate Bhatia said that this presumption was incorrect, as IUML had MLAs & MPs from Kerala, attributing elections to religious communities.

Case Title: Syed Waseem Rizvi vs. Election Commission of India and Anr.