Hearing for action on political parties with religious names: SC gives notice to Center and Election Commission, seeks reply in 4 weeks

The Supreme Court on Monday heard a petition seeking action against political parties using religious names and symbols. The court has sent a notice to the Center and the Election Commission in this case and has sought a reply in 4 weeks. Further hearing in the matter will be held on October 18. A bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice Krishna Murari heard the matter.

Voters are wooed in the name of religion
Syed Wasim Rizvi filed a petition in the Supreme Court. It said that political parties should ban the use of religious names and symbols. Political parties woo voters on the basis of religion.

use of moon star in flag
Petitioner’s counsel Gaurav Bhatia asked whether political parties can use religious names and symbols? Many parties use the moon star in the flag. These people should be stopped from contesting elections. It is against the law. This is a case of violation of model of conduct. To prevent this, there has been a demand to implement Section 29A, 123(3) and 123(3A).

Wasim has changed religion
The special thing is that the petitioner Syed Wasim was the former chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board. Syed Wasim Rizvi had accepted Sanatan Dharma on 6 December 2021 leaving Islam in Ghaziabad. Wasim changed his name to Jitendra Narayan Tyagi. Wasim had filed the petition after changing his religion. Tyagi then said that the second name of Islam is terror, which started 1400 years ago in the Arabian desert.

The Election Symbols Order 1968 empowers the Election Commission to recognize and allot election symbols to political parties.