DESIYA MURPOKKU DRAVIDA KAZHAGAM AND ANR. versus THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA

Citation: [2011] 3 S.C.R. 920 · Decided: 16-03-2011 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ALTAMAS KABIR · Disposal: Hearing Adjourned
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A 
B 
c 
(2011] 3 S.C.R. 920 
DESIYA MURPOKKU DRAVIDA KAZHAGAM AND ANR. 
V. 
THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA 
(Writ Petition (C) No. 532 of 2008) 
MARCH 16, 2011 
[ALTAMAS KABIR AND CYRIAC JOSEPH, JJ.] 
Election Symbols (Reservation and allotment) Order, 
1968: 
Object of its enactment J Discussed. 
Paragraphs 6A(i), (ii), 6B(A)(ii), 9(a), 9(b), 1 OA, 11, 
12(1)(c) and 13(3)(a)- Validity of, challenged- Writ petitions 
and special leave petitions - Registered unrecognized 
D political parties seeking direction to the Election Commission 
of India to allot common election symbols to their candidates 
in the ensuing elections to State legislative assembly -
Elections process already set into motion in the State of Tamil 
Nadu - Held: An interim arrangement was made on 27th 
E March, 2009. - At that time, registered unrecognized political 
parties before the Court were only three in numbers -
Although it would be to the advantage of the registered 
unrecognized political parties if they are able to put up 
candidates on a common symbol, however, in the light of 
F present situation when number of candidates who are likely 
to contest the elections and are required to be provided with 
free symbols in each constituency has increased, if all 
unrecognized registered political parties are provided with a 
common symbol, it would render the provisions of the Order 
G completely unworkable and destroy the very object it seeks 
to achieve - In view of the said two possibilities, no interim 
arrangement made regarding the allotment of election 
symbols for the forthcoming General Assembly Elections -
This would, however, not effect the final outcome of the 
1-1 
920 
DESIYA MURPOKKU DRAVlDA KAZHAGAM v. THE 921 
ELECTION COMMN. OF INDIA 
pending writ petitions and special leave petitions - Petitions A 
liste.d for final disposal - Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 
324 - Representation of the People Act, 1951 - s.29A -
Conduct of Election Rules, ·161 - rr.5, 10- Notification no.561 
2000/JUD-lll dated 1.12.2000. 
B 
Words and phrases: Expression 'recognized political 
· party, 'free symbol' and 'reserved symbol' - Meaning of, in the 
context of Election symbols (Reservation and allotment) 
Order, 1968. 
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Under Article 32 of the C 
Constitution of India. 
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 532 of 2008. 
WITH 
W.P. (C) Nos. 132, 315, 422, 426, 444, 447, 454 and 463 of 
2009, SLP (C) Nos. 23494 & 7379-80 of 2009 and W.P. (C) 
Nos. 111 & 117 of 2011 
D 
K.K. Venugopal, Mukul Rohatagi, Rajiv Dutta, Jaideep E 
Gupta, Ashok Desai, Col. Edwin Jesudass, Rukhsana 
Choudhary, S. ~avi Shankar, Hari Shankar K.R. Nedumaran, 
Pranav Kumar, Harinder Mohan Singh,
1Shuvodeep Roy, Rajiv 
Shankar Dvivedi, Ankur Mittal, Anil Kumar Mishra, Vijaya 
Bhaskar, V.P. Sengottuvel, Vikas Singh Jangra, S. Ravi 
F 
Shankar, S. Yamunah Nachiar, R. Sharath, Satish Galla, N.R. 
Raman, Kumar Dushyant Singh, Anil Hooda, Sanjay Sharma, 
Padmakar Tripathi, Manoj Goel, Naushad Ahmad Khan, V. 
Elanchezhiyan, Subuhi Khan, Aftab Ali Khan, Pravin Satale, 
Sanjay R. Hegde, Abhishek Malviya, K.R. Joshi, Ramesh Babu 
M.R., Meenakshi Arora, S.K. Mendiratta, Poli Kataki, Vijay G 
Kumar, Vishwajit Singh, Ramehs N. Keswani, Ram Lal Roy, 
Lawyer's Knit & Co., Venkateswara Rao Anumolu, Jogy Scaria 
and Keswani & Co., for the appearing parties. 
H 
922 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2011] 3 S.C.R. 
A 
The Order of the Court was delivered by 
ORDER 
ALTAMAS KABIR, J. 1. The common challenge in these 
eleven Writ Petitions and three Special Leave Petitions is to 
B 
the provisions of Paragraph 6A(i) & (ii), Paragraph 6B(A)(ii), 
Paragraph 9(a) and (b), Paragraphs 1 OA, 11, 12(1)(c) and 
Paragraph 12(3)(a) of the Election Symbols (Reservation and 
Allotment) Order, 1968, as amended from time to time. 
However, on account of paucity of time in the light of the election 
C 
process being set into motion in the State of Tamil Nadu, we 
decided to focus our attention to the possibility of making a 
temporary arrangement till the Writ Petitions and the Special 
Leave Petitions could be decided finally. 
D 
E 
F 
2. Article 324 of the Constitution of India vests the 
superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of the 
electoral rolls for and the conduct of elections in the Election 
Commission. Since we shall be referring to the said provision 
hereinafter, the same is extracted hereinbelow : 
"324. Superintendence, direction and control of elections 
to be
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