149 New political parties registered between Jan & March
India now has 2,293 political parties
New Delhi, Mar 17: "Bharosa Party", "Sabsi Badi Party", and "Rashtriya Saaf Niti Party" are some of the 2,300- odd political parties that India has on the eve of the 2019 general elections.
The Election Commission of India's latest data on political parties, registered till March 9, a day before the Lok Sabha elections were announced, reveal that the country is having a total of 2,293 political parties.
They include seven "recognised national" and 59 "recognised state" parties.
In fact, 149 political parties were registered with the poll panel between February and March on the eve of the announcement of the poll schedule.
Till February this year, the country had 2,143 political parties registered with the Commission, with 58 of them getting registered ahead of the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh during November-December last year.
Some of the recently registered 149 parties include Bahujan Azad Party from Sitamarhi in Bihar, Samoohik Ekta Party from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Rashtriya Saaf Niti Party from Jaipur, Rajasthan, Sabsi Badi Party, Delhi, Bharosa Party from Telangana and New Generation People's Party from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
These registered but unrecognised political parties do not have the privilege of contesting elections on a fixed symbol of their own.
They have to choose from a list of 'free symbols' issued by the poll panel. According to the latest EC circular, there are 84 such free symbols available currently.
To become a recognised political party either at the state or national level, a party has to secure certain minimum percentage of polled valid votes or certain number of seats in the state legislative assembly or the Lok Sabha during the last election.
Fearing misuse of the provisions for financial contributions to political parties, the Election Commission had in 2016 asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes to look into the finances of 255 registered but unrecognised political parties it had "unlisted" that year for not contesting polls in the last one decade between 2005 and 2015.
There have been fears that most of such parties are used to 'round trip' the black money into white.
The EC had found that some of the parties were "no longer in existence or functioning".
While the poll watchdog has the mandate to register a political party, the electoral laws denies it the power to deregister any party.
With its demand to get power to deregister a party being pending with the Law Ministry, the Commission had used its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to "unlist" parties for being dormant and not contesting elections for a long time.
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Karnataka: Paramedical student attempts suicide after 'harassment', ex-boyfriend held
Hubballi (PTI): A 20-year-old paramedical college student attempted suicide by consuming pills after allegedly being harassed and blackmailed with her photographs by an acquaintance, police said on Wednesday.
Following the incident on Tuesday, the 23-year-old accused, who was previously in a relationship with her, was arrested, they added.
The matter came to light when the Karnataka Medical College and Research Institute (KMCRI) informed the Vidyanagar police station about the woman’s suicide attempt, police said.
According to police, the second-year student attempted suicide in her women’s hostel after enduring constant "harassment and blackmail".
Citing a preliminary inquiry, a senior police officer stated that the woman and the accused were previously in a relationship. However, after their breakup, he allegedly began harassing and blackmailing her with her photographs.
"The woman's parents filed a complaint accusing the suspect of physical assault, mental harassment, and blackmail using her photographs and messages. Both the woman and the accused hail from Kundgol town, but for the past few months, he had been trying to harass her," the senior police officer said.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered, and the accused was arrested. The case will be investigated thoroughly, he added.
The woman is now out of danger, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
