The court listed the matter for December 3 for further hearing. The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notices to the Central government, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the AIMIM, the political party led by Asaduddin Owaisi, and sought their response on a petition filed by a Shiv Sena leader seeking to quash AIMIM’s registration as a political party. The petition alleges that the AIMIM raises only issues concerning Muslims and seeks votes in the name of religion. Justice Siddharth Mridul, however, observed that some of the allegations in the petition – filed by Tirupati Narasimha Murari, president of Shiv Sena’s Telangana unit, in his “personal capacity” – are “scandalous”, and are “neither necessary nor relevant”. The court was told that the AIMIM was founded as a political party on the same lines and thinking as the Muslim League, which forced the formation of Pakistan by way of Partition. The petition claimed that the AIMIM’s constitution and working is against the law laid down by the Supreme Court, and that the party ought to be disqualified since its aim and objective are allegedly opposed to the concept of secularism, one of the requirements under the Representation of the People Act. To this, the court replied, “Such allegations are neither necessary nor relevant at all for de-registration of AIMIM as a political party. These are scandalous allegations. There is enough outside the courtroom, therefore the court should not be made platform for this. Not to this court. You cannot make allegations against anybody.” “I will expunge them (allegations made against AIMIM),” the judge said, adding that the AIMIM’s counsel will point out the objectionable portions in the petition. The AIMIM’s counsel opposed the petition, calling it not maintainable, and said that issuing a notice to the party will be abuse of the process of law. The judge said, “I am not putting on hold your (AIMIM’s) recognition. I am just asking for your response.” The court listed the matter for December 3 for further hearing. During the brief hearing, when Murari’s counsels, Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain, submitted that a political party cannot be registered on communal agenda, Justice Mridul replied that Muslims getting together for meetings cannot be qualified as “communal agenda”. The petition urged the court to set aside the June 19, 2014 order of the ECi granting AIMIM recognition as a state party of Telangana. The plea said that the English translation of the AIMIM is “All India Council of the Union of Muslims”, which was founded as a political party in 1958. It alleged that leaders and workers of the party are “continuously abusing Hindu religion, their Gods (and) Goddesses”.