EC suspends recognition to Sangma's National People's Party

The Election Commission on Tuesday suspended the recognition of former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) for its failure to file its election expenditure statement.

It is the first case that recognition of a party has been suspended by the poll panel under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, for its failure to follow the lawful directions of the commission, the Election Commission said in a statement.

The commission had earlier issued instructions to all political parties to file their election expenditure statement within 75 days of the assembly elections and 90 days of the Lok Sabha polls.

As per the commission's instructions, the political parties were required to submit their election expenditure statements by August 26, 2014.

The commission had issued two reminders to the NPP to submit the required statement for the 2014 Lok Sabha election after the due date had long expired, the statement said.

Finally, the commission issued a notice on March 17 to the NPP to show cause as to why action should not be taken under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968 for failure to follow the lawful directions and instructions of the commission.

On receipt of the notice, the NPP requested time to submit its expenditure statement by April 15, 2015 and again for time up to by May 15, 2015 but failed to honour the deadline and did not file the expenditure statement.