vs

The Supreme Court upheld the Election Commission's order dated 21.2.1992, which withdrew the recognition of Janata Dal (Samajwadi) as a national party under paragraphs 6 and 7 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. The Court established that recognition is not perpetual and requires ongoing electoral support, as defined under Section 29(A) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The Court affirmed that the performance of a party must be assessed based on elections across all states, not just a subset, thereby validating the Commission's decision to derecognize the party due to insufficient electoral support.