A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court on Thursday seeking direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to review political parties registered with religious, caste, ethnic or linguistic connotations and de-register them if they fail to rename them within three months.
The petitioner has also urged the ECI to review the flags of the political parties to ensure that they are not using a flag that is similar to the national flag, and de-register them if they fail to change their flag within three months.
The petition filed by senior advocate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay stated, "Presently there are many political parties such as Hindu Sena, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Indian Union Muslim League etc. with religious, caste, ethnic, linguistic connotations...In addition, there are political parties including Indian National Congress, which use a flag similar to the national flag, which is against the spirit of Section 123 of the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA), 1951."
"Petitioner is filing this petition to review the political parties, registered with religious, caste, ethnic, linguistic connotations and use the flag similar to the national flag, and de-register them if they fail to rename and change their flag within three months," the plea mentioned.
The petition will be heard in the court on Friday.
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