No party colours on government work: Andhra High Court

Political parties in the country are in the habit of promoting their party by using the party colours, symbols and photographs of their leaders on government projects. The idea is to make the people feel obliged to the party in power or its leader.  

A case in point is the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the anti-COVID vaccination certificate. Most generic medicine shops, sponsored by the Central Government under the Pradhan Mantri Janaushadhi Pariyojana carry the acronym as BJP and use the party colours too.

The Y S R Congress (YSRC) in Andhra Pradesh has done a similar thing, by painting the party colours on the government’s solid waste management plants.

On a public interest litigation (PIL), the Andhra Pradesh High Court yesterday ordered the removal of ruling YSRC party colours, painted on the solid waste management plants in the State. The court also asked the government to direct the staff at the ground level not to paint such colours on government buildings in future.

The PIL filed by P Suresh Kumar of Vijaywada had filed a PIL in the High Court seeking directions to the government to stop painting the solid waste management plants with the colours of YSRC. The bench of Chief Justice Arup Kumar Goswami and Justice N Jayasurya hearing the PIL, went through the photographs submitted by the petitioner and said that though the dust bins were supposed to be painted in a single colour, they were painted with the colours of the ruling party. The Bench ordered immediate removal of such colours and asked the government to file a statement naming those responsible and action taken against them.