By Dhruvi Shah
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that political parties cannot be classified as “workplaces” under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) because party members do not fit the legal definition of “employees.”
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India Bhushan R. Gavai, and consisting of Justices K. Vinod Chandran and N.V. Anjaria, decided against a petition to extend the POSH Act to political parties. The bench explained that interpreting political parties as workplaces could open a “Pandora’s box.”
“How do you declare a political party a workplace? Is there any employment there? When you join a political party, you do not get a job. There is no compensation for your work,” it stated.
The petition was brought by advocate Yogamaya M.G. through advocate-on-record, Sriram P., challenging a Kerala High Court ruling in 2022 that exempted political parties from creating Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs).
The petition stated that exempting a political party from the POSH Act is arbitrary and discriminatory and violates constitutional guarantees of Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21. It argues that women campaigners, interns, grassroots activists, and volunteers often work in unsafe spaces without an informal way to make a complaint.
Senior attorney Shobha Gupta, on behalf of the petitioner, argued that the Act does not distinguish between public and private bodies, hence it must cover political parties as well.
The petition further pointed out inconsistencies: CPI(M) had created ICCs with external members while AAP has opaque committees, whilst BJP and Congress deal with complaints through disciplinary or state-level committees which do not follow the statutory act.
Nevertheless, the bench declined to intervene and stated that party membership does not equate to employment. The order made sure that the earlier ruling of the Kerala High Court was unaltered, and political parties would remain outside of the scope of the POSH Act.