No child's play: Election Commission informs HC that it would freeze poll symbols of parties if they don't stop the practice
The Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that it would derecognise those political parties that use children in election campaign or poll-related work.
In an affidavit filed before the court, the poll commission has said: "We cannot cancel registration of political parties but we are empowered to derecognise them by freezing their symbols if they violate laws."
The affidavit comes in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on children for electioneering.
Senior counsel Pradeep Rajgopal said that the EC had sent two letters to all political parties in May 2013 and September 2014, directing them to refrain from using minors for poll-related work as this was strictly prohibited.
The court has raised a query as to what action would EC take against independent candidates if they are found to be violating the norms. EC will be filing an additional affidavit on this aspect on next occasion.
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Girish Kulkarni has admitted the petition for final hearing and kept matter for hearing after two weeks. The HC had earlier observed that it was a serious issue and prima facie it appeared that the existing rules do not provide a ban on children in such activities.
It has also asked the EC and the government to look into the issue and make a provision to put a stop to this practice.
The PIL has been filed by Pune resident Chetan Bhutada, who enclosed several photographs of children holding placards, flags and raising slogans. The photos pertained to the campaigns conducted by various political parties in the state.
Petitioner's lawyer Sriram Choudhari argued that engaging children below 14 for such activities was a violation of Child Labour Act.
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