- (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 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.;