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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
P. JAGANMOHAN REDDY AND S.N. DWIVEDI, JJ.
Ramashankar Kaushik and another, Appellants
Versus
Election Commission of India and another, Respondents.
Civil Appeal No. 630 of 1973, D/- 14-11-1973.
Representation of the People act, 1951 - Section 2 (g), 59 and 169 - Constitution of India, 1950 – Article 324(1) and 324 - Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 - Rules 5 and 10, 5 (1), 10 (4) (5) and (6) - Socialist Party - Participated in General Election - Held to Draft for Merger of Two Parties - Whether Sri Ramashanker Kaushik s party could be recognised as S.S.P - Whether symbol Tree could be reserved for it - Whether to register or not to register association as a political party for purposes of Order - Whether such newly formed party should be a National party or a State party - Whether S.S.P. had merged in Socialist Party and destroyed its separate identity – Held, A new political party is formed by joining together of at least one recognised political party and another political party - Newly formed political party may apply for recognised to Election Commission - After due hearing, Elction Commission may recognise newly formed political party either as a National Party or as a State Party and may allot a symbol to it - It seems to Court that this expression also includes a third type of case where two or more political parties, after deciding to destroy their separate identity, have brought into existence a new political party even though process of extinction is not formally completed or is invalid and ineffective - Argument of Sri Patel also cannot prevail - Order provides that Commission may issue instructions and directions for removal of any difficulty which may arise in relation to implementation of provisions of Order - Obviously, no difficulty can arise in regard to implementation of Order in present case - For sake of argument it may be assumed that he merger of Samyukta Socialist Party in Socialist Party was not a valid and accomplished fact on date when symbol "Tree" was allotted to Socialist Party and that Samyukta Socialist Party has been enjoying a ceaseless existence - If an association is constituted under a statute; it can be dissolved only in accordance with that statute if it is organised on basis of a contract, then it can be dissolved only in accordance with terms of contract, commonly called constitution - If constitution provides for dissolution by consent of all members, rule of decision by majority is excluded - There seems to be no evidence on these material aspects - Rule 10 (4) of Rules will apply only when Returning Officer is considering choice of a symbol expressed by a contesting candidate in his nomination paper – Court is not concerned with such a case at present - Rule 5 will also not apply now - Provisions of Order will prevail over Rules 5 and 10 because rules 5 and 10 expressly are subject to any general or special directions or restrictions issued by Election Commission - Sri Patel has relied on Samyukta Socialist Party - That decision was given under Rule 5 at a time when Commission had not enacted Order - As present case is now directly governed by provisions of Order, appellants cannot derive any help from that decision - Appeal dismissed.
Judgement
DWIVEDI, J. :- Before Independence the Congress Socialist Party functioned as a group inside the Indian National Congress. After Independence it had to quit the Congress, and because known as the Socialist Party. On the eve of the general election in 1952 another group of persons came out of the Congress. They formed a new party called the Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party. The Socialist Party and the Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party participated in the first general election. Tree was the symbol of the Socialist Party; Hut of the Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party. Some time in 1953 the two parties merged together and formed a new party called the Praja Socialist Party (hereinafter called the P.S.P.). It was allotted the symbol of Hut . This unity was not long lived. In 1956 a group of persons came out of the P.S.P. They re-formed the Socialist Party. The Socialist Party was allotted the symbol Tree . The P.S.P. retained its symbol Hut . The two parties participated in the second general election in 1957 with their respective symbols. In 1964 the P.S.P. and the Socialist Party merged to form a new party called the Samyukta Socialist Party (hereinafter referred to as the S.S.P.). This party was allotted the symbol Hut . This unity also was short lived. In 1965 there was a split. One group came to be known as P.S.P., and the other as S.S.P. The P.S.P. got back its old symbol Hut ; the S.S.P. got the symbol Tree . They participated in the general election of 1967 and bye-elections in 1969 with their respective symbol. The urge for unity was again strongly felt after the general election to the Lok Sabha in 1971 in which both parties made a very pooor showing. It appears that on May 25, 1971, a joint meetint of the Chairman and General Secretaries of the P.S.P. and the S.S.P. was held to draft an agreement for merger of the two parties for consideration by the two parties. They succeeded in hammering out a draft agreement. The draft agreement was entitled the "basis for the unification of the S.S.P. and the P.S.P." It is a long document. It laid emphasis on a broadbased unity of all democratic socialists who have genuine commitment to democratic socialism. It expressed the hope that "the unification of the S.S.P. and the P.S.P. can be a precursor to such a broadbased socialist consolidation." According to it, the
"primary task of the unifited Socialist Party will be to build an effective organisational instrument which will lead people s struggle for economic equality, social mobility and meaningful participation of the people in building a socialist economy".
The document uses the expression "United Party" in various clauses. For instance, it says:
"The United Party will pursue an integrated price policy whose important elements will be: (1) Parity between the prices of the agricultural produce and industrial goods: (2) the price of essential commodities not to exceed 1 1/2 items the cost of production including the transport charges; (3) assurance of a remunerative price for the agricultural produce and elimination of occasional fluctuations in price; and (4) Socialisation of the wholesale trade in foodgrain and other essential commodities and their effective distribution through co-operative agencies".
As regards organisational unification of the S.S.P. and the P.S.P., the agreement provided for the formation of a National Ad-hoc Committee comprising of the National Executive Committees of the S.S.P. and the P.S.P. The National Ad-hoc Committee of the United Party would appoint office-bearers of the new party and also set up ad-hoc committees at State level. It was decided that "the name of the United Party will be Socialist Party". The National Ad-hoc Committee would prepare the membership pledge for the "New Party" and would fix up the membership year and the date and venue of the first National Conference of the United Party. The document is signed by Sarvsri N. G. Goray, Karpoori Thakur, Prem Bhasin and George Fernandes. The
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