• The Election Commission of India has revised rules for allocating common symbols to Registered Unrecognized Political Parties, subject to certain conditions.

ECI allots symbols to political parties under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

• ECI announced that RUPPs which have
  • submitted their contribution reports and audited annual accounts for the past three financial years,
  • as well as election expenditure statements for their last two contested elections,
  • will be eligible for ‘concession of common symbol allotment’.
• A newly registered party, a political group that has not attained a certain vote percentage or general elections to be recognised as a state/national party, or one that has not contested elections since its registration, are considered RUPPs.

Note

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) registers political parties for the purpose of elections and grants them recognition as national or state parties on the basis of their poll performance.
• The other parties are simply declared as registered-unrecognised parties.