1. Political Parties (National/State/RUPPs) in the country are registered with the ECI under the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act 1951.

2. Under provisions of the Act, any association once registered as a political party, gets certain privileges and advantages such as symbol, tax exemptions amongst others.

3. Guidelines for registration of Political Parties mention that if the party does not contest elections continuously for 6 years, the party shall be taken off the list of registered parties.

4. As part of a comprehensive and continuous strategy of the Election Commission to clean up the electoral system, ECI has been conducting a nationwide exercise to identify and delist Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) which have failed to fulfil the essential condition of contesting even a single election for 6 years continuously, since 2019.

5. In the first round of this exercise, ECI has already delisted 334 RUPPs on 9th August 2025 bringing down the number of listed RUPPs from 2,854 to 2,520.

6. As part of second round of the exercise, another 476 RUPPs have been identified, which are from different States and UTs across the country. (Annexure)

7. In order to ensure that no party is unduly delisted, the CEOs of the respective States/UTs have been directed to issue show-cause notices to these RUPPs following which, the parties will be given an opportunity through a hearing by the concerned CEOs.

8. Based on the reports of the CEOs, the final decision regarding the delisting of any RUPP shall be taken by the Election Commission of India.

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PK/GDH/RP

Annexure

State-wise distribution of RUPPs