ORDER

WP (C) No. 532 of 2008, WP (C) No. 132 of 2009 and SLPs (C) Nos. 7379-80 of 2009 a

1. WP (C) No. 532 of 2008 is filed by a registered unrecognised political party mainly situated in Tamil Nadu and WP (C) No. 132 of 2009 is filed by another registered unrecognised political party situated mainly in Andhra Pradesh whereas special leave petitions are filed against the order passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. In all these matters the petitioners in writ petitions and the respondents in the special leave b petitions made an interim prayer.

2. In the State of Andhra Pradesh and the State of Tamil Nadu General Elections have already been notified and in the State of Andhra Pradesh there are elections for Lok Sabha as well as assembly constituencies and in the State of Tamil Nadu there are General Elections only for Lok Sabha. By the impugned order, it has been directed that all registered unrecognised parties shall be allotted free symbols for the ensuing elections.

3. "Political Party" has been defined in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, Para 2(h) as an association or body of individual citizens registered with the Election Commission as a political party under Section 29-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. There are national parties, State parties and registered unrecognised parties and the symbols are allotted under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. The national parties as well as the State parties have their own common symbols, whereas the registered unrecognised parties are given free symbols. Choice of symbols by other candidates and allotment are governed as per Para 12 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

4. The three political parties who have appeared before us through their Senior Counsel are Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) Party, Praja Rajyam Party and Lok Satta Party and they contended that they would fill candidates in all the 292 assembly constituencies and 42 constituencies for Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and 39 constituencies for Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and one Lok Sabha seat in Pondicherry. It is brought to our notice that these three political parties may be given a common symbol each. While DMDK preferred the symbol of "nagara" which is at Sl. No. 41 in the list of free symbols, whereas Praja Rajyam Party preferred the symbol of "railway engine" which is at Sl. No. 43 in the list of free symbols and Lok Satta Party preferred the symbol of "whistle" which is at Sl. No. 59 in the list g of free symbols.

5. The order passed by the High Court of Andhra Pradesh dated 25-3-2009 is stayed to the extent that the Election Commission has been directed to give a common symbol to all the candidates to be filled up by all registered unrecognised parties. Further, the Election Commission may give a common symbol, as indicated earlier, to DMDK, Praja Rajyam Party and Lok Satta Party subject to the general conditions given in Para 12 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, especially

"12. (3)(b) if of those several candidates no one is set up by any unrecognised political party but all are independent candidates and one of the independent candidates is, or was immediately before such election, a sitting member of the House of the People, or, as the case may -be of the Legislative Assembly, and was allotted that free symbol at the previous election when he was chosen as such member, the Returning Officer shall allot that free symbol to that candidate and to no one else;

" 6. The candidates to be filled up by these political parties shall submit the prescribed form duly authorised by a particular party. It is made clear that these three political parties are not entitled to get any preferential treatment in respect of this symbol and no equity will be given in future when allotment of regular symbol arises for consideration before the Election Commission. This