High Court: No Law to Ban Parties on Caste-Religion Politics

• The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow Bench ruled there's no current law to ban parties based on caste or religious politics.
• The Election Commission lacks authority to cancel party registration on these grounds, disposing of a 2013 PIL.
• The court stated that completely barring individuals or parties from elections solely for caste/religion influence is not possible under existing law.
• The High Court emphasized that creating such laws is the legislature's responsibility, not the judiciary's.
• Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act allows disqualification only upon conviction for electoral misconduct.

Why It Matters: High Court clarifies no existing law bans political parties for caste-religion based politics; legislature must act.