Key Terms & Concepts — UPSC Mains
Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968
"A subordinate order made by the Election Commission of India under its Article 324 powers that reserves symbols for recognised political parties and, under Paragraph 15, empowers the Commission to decide which rival faction of a split party is entitled to the party's name and symbol."
The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 is a piece of subordinate legislation, made by the Election Commission of India under its constitutional powers (traceable to Article 324) rather than enacted as a statute by Parliament. It establishes the framework for reserving distinctive symbols to recognised national and state political parties, distinguishing these 'reserved' symbols from the 'free' symbols allotted, election by election, to unrecognised parties and independent candidates. The Order's most consequential and most litigated provision is Paragraph 15, which addresses what happens when a recognised party splits into rival factions each claiming to be the authentic party. It empowers the Election Commission to decide, after considering all available facts and circumstances and hearing the rival sections, that one of them is the party, and that decision then binds all rival sections in respect of the reserved symbol. The provision confers broad, largely unstructured discretion on the Commission, since the Order itself does not enumerate the criteria the Commission must apply. The Supreme Court supplied those criteria in Sadiq Ali v. Election Commission of India (1971), upholding Paragraph 15's validity while endorsing a three-part test: the aims and objects of the party, the party's constitution, and majority support in both the organisational and legislative wings. In recent practice, notably the 2023 Shiv Sena and 2024 Nationalist Congress Party disputes, the Election Commission has relied almost exclusively on the legislative-wing headcount, a narrowing of the test that the Supreme Court was, as of August 2026, actively re-examining, partly because it interacts uneasily with the Tenth Schedule's anti-defection scheme.
A high-value, frequently under-known GS2 fact: most candidates can name the Tenth Schedule but not the actual instrument, Paragraph 15 of this 1968 Order, that decides which faction of a split party keeps its name and symbol.
- 1 Made by the Election Commission of India under Article 324 powers, subordinate legislation, NOT an Act of Parliament.
- 2 Reserves symbols exclusively for recognised parties, distinct from 'free' symbols allotted to others election by election.
- 3 Paragraph 15: empowers the ECI to decide which rival faction of a split party is 'the party,' binding on all factions.
- 4 Sadiq Ali v. Election Commission of India (1971) upheld Paragraph 15 and set a three-part test: aims/objects, party constitution, and majority in organisational + legislative wings.
- 5 Recent practice (Shiv Sena 2023, NCP 2024) has relied almost exclusively on the legislative-wing headcount, narrowing the original three-part test.
- 6 Interacts uneasily with the Tenth Schedule's anti-defection scheme, since the 91st Amendment (2003) removed the 'split' defence for defecting legislators while the Symbols Order still rewards a large defecting group with the party's identity.
When the Shiv Sena split in 2022, the Election Commission's February 2023 decision to recognise the Eknath Shinde faction rested chiefly on its legislative strength, 40 of 55 MLAs, invoking Paragraph 15 of the 1968 Order as interpreted through Sadiq Ali.
