No HC relief for body that sought to register itself as a political party

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court refused to grant interim relief to an organisation that sought registration with the Election Commission of India (ECI) as a political party to enable it to contest the state assembly elections. A vacation bench of justice Sandeep Marne and justice Manjusha Deshpande had taken up the CNP matter for urgent relief.

A petition had been filed by the Communist National Party (CNP) seeking directions to the ECI for granting them a provisional registration certificate and allotment of an election symbol to allow them to contest elections in Maharashtra.

The petition claims CNP was formed in June 2024 in Mumbai with Moinuddin Chowdhari as its general secretary, and it intends to participate in elections of various state assemblies.

CNP claimed to have filed an application with the ECI for registration as a political party under the Representation for People Act, 1951, in July 2024, against which it received objections from the ECI within a month.

CNP claimed that they requested the ECI to grant them a provisional certificate to enable them to contest the elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, within a week of receiving the objection letter. However, the ECI did not give the certificate, the petitions states, and CNP missed the opportunity to participate in the Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana assembly elections. Hence, it decided to approach the Bombay high court for urgent relief in the matter, with an eye on the Maharashtra elections.