Supreme Court to hear PIL on ‘parties using religion’

The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Election Commission and the Centre on a plea that symbols and names allotted to political parties be cancelled for using religion or carrying religious connotations in their symbols. It asked the petitioner’s counsel to implead concerned parties on the matter. The case will be heard on October 18.

The notices were issued by a bench headed by Justice MR Shah on a petition filed by Syed Waseem Rizwi.

The petitioner said using religion to lure voters was strictly prohibited under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act. His counsel, senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, argued that two recognised state parties have the word Muslim in their name (the Indian Union Muslim League and the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen), some parties have crescent and stars in their flags.