New Delhi 19 September :- In a significant move to cleanse the electoral system, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has delisted 474 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs) for failing to contest any elections for six consecutive years. This action, taken on September 18, 2025, marks the second phase of a major crackdown, following the delisting of 334 such parties just last month, bringing the total number of parties removed from the register to 808.
The ECI has now initiated proceedings against an additional 359 RUPPs for further non-compliance. These parties have been identified for failing to submit their Annual Audited Accounts for the last three financial years (2021-22 to 2023-24) and for not filing their Election Expenditure Statements despite having contested polls. To ensure due process, the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of the respective 23 States and Union Territories have been directed to issue show-cause notices to these parties and conduct hearings before submitting their reports. The ECI will make the final decision on their delisting based on these reports. This ongoing nationwide exercise underscores the Commission’s commitment to enforcing compliance and ensuring that the privileges of registration, such as tax exemptions and electoral symbols, are only extended to active and accountable political entities.
The Election Commission’s latest order to delist non-compliant parties includes several notable entities from Jammu and Kashmir. One such party, which had campaigned for the trifurcation of the region during the 2002 Assembly elections, features on the list. Also deregistered is a party led by a former minister from the PDP-Congress coalition government, who was previously arrested in connection with a Hawala case.
Furthermore, the list includes the Jammu and Kashmir National Democratic Front, formerly headed by Abdur Rashid Kabuli—a former Member of Parliament who won the 1977 elections on a Janata Party ticket with the backing of the Awami Action Committee (AAC), an organization recently declared unlawful by the Central Government.
These parties were among those officially removed from the ECI’s registry on Friday for failing to contest any elections over the past six years. Other J&K-based parties delisted include the Backward Classes Democratic Party, Duggar Pradesh Party, Front of Revolutionised Creative Efforts, Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Party (Secular), Kashmir Development Front, Nature Mankind Friendly Global Party, Secular Party of India, and the Social Movement Party.