Koonanneni Sambasiva Rao, state secretary of the Communist Party of India, stated that the Election Commission’s decision to revoke the Communist Party of India’s national status is a misguided one. The withdrawal at this time raises many suspicions and has been criticized for containing erroneous provisions regarding the recognition of national status.

He stated that the decision of the EC will be challenged shortly. Koonanneni opined that it is improper to grant national recognition based solely on election results. He stated that we have a system of multiple parties in our parliamentary democracy.

CPI should not be denationalized: Koonanneni 2023 2

CPI played a key role in the country’s independence and later in the turning point

He stated that not all parties can contend in every election for every seat. He stated that election awareness and adjustments will occur. Koonan stated that it is improper for the Election Commission to determine the national status in an improper manner without taking all of these factors into account.

He stated that elections have become about money and temptation, and that the Election Commission demonstrates its ineffectiveness in every election by being unable to prevent them. He criticized the inability to provide every candidate with equal opportunities in the competition. In addition, it was alleged that the prime minister was unable to act on allegations of violations of the code during the previous election. According to him, the Gujarat election schedule was delayed to benefit the governing party.

EC has no principles to determine on caste status

CPI should not be denationalized: Koonanneni 2023 3

Such a prejudiced practice Election Commission lacks the moral authority to determine the status of political opposition parties. According to his opinion, there is a debate as to whether or not the first-past-the-post electoral system currently in use in our country is appropriate. Do we believe that candidates who receive 20 or 30 percent of the vote in a multi-party election are also successful, and that a victor who does not receive at least 50 percent of the vote cannot be considered popular?

He inquired. He stated that if the current first-past-the-post system is eliminated and proportional elections are held, the true strength of political parties will be diminished. They demanded that the government pay the candidates’ election expenses to limit the influence of money in elections. The CPI’s history is intertwined with every turning point since the country’s independence, and it has members in every state.

The CPI is not threatened.

Sambasivarao made it plain that the party’s election symbol will remain until the Election Commission revokes the CPI’s national status. He stated that Kanki Kodavali will remain with the CPI and will not be given to other parties. The Election Commission will assign the Kanki Kodavali symbol to any candidate who contests the CPI B Form in any election, from ward member to member of parliament.

He explained that nationalization is merely a technical matter and that the only loss will be the allocated campaign time on Doordarshan and Radio. Even if a similar circumstance had arisen in the past, we should have considered all factors and maintained our national status, as he reminded us.