Discuss the scope of the Election Commission's powers under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, to adjudicate disputes over party symbols. Are there adequate checks on this quasi-judicial function?

The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 — issued by the Election Commission (EC) under Article 324 read with the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 — is not a statute but an EC-made instrument [1]. Its Paragraph 15 makes the EC the sole forum to decide which of two rival groups is the "real" recognised party, a power invoked again in the September 2026 freeze of the Trinamool Congress name and "flowers and grass" symbol before the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls [1][2].

Scope of the power

• Exclusive and binding: the EC decides rival claims and its order binds all factions; validity was upheld in Sadiq Ali v. ECI (1972).
• Interim freezing: pending final inquiry, the EC may bar both sides from the old name/symbol and allot fresh ones — as done for the Mamata and Ritabrata factions [2].
• Electorally necessary: a returning officer cannot allot one symbol to two candidates; with nominations closing in weeks, a full organisational inquiry is impossible.

Are the checks adequate?

• Yes, partly: orders are quasi-judicial, require hearing both sides, and remain open to judicial review under Articles 32/226 — hence the current plea before the Supreme Court [2].
• But gaps persist: the 1968 Order provides no appeal and no time limit, so an "interim" freeze can outlast several elections [1].
• Absent a law mandating internal party democracy — recommended by the Law Commission's 255th Report (2015) through a proposed Chapter IVC, Sections 29J–29Q of the RPA, 1951 [3] — the EC can verify only legislator headcounts, not membership rolls.
• Parallel Tenth Schedule proceedings before the Speaker have no fixed sequence with Paragraph 15, so disqualification may come too late to matter [4].

The power is thus institutionally sound but procedurally under-regulated. Statutory regulation of parties, a self-imposed EC deadline for Paragraph 15 inquiries, and reasoned orders recording what organisational evidence was tested would align this function with fair-procedure guarantees under Article 14 and strengthen free and fair elections.