2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election that if elected he would refuse to take the oath of allegiance to the Queen in order to take up his seat. He opted to declare neither a party affiliation nor "Independent", so appeared on the ballot paper with no party label. Icke told the VoteWise website he had "no politics", and David Davis had a "lot he doesn't yet see". Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, announced that his party would not field a candidate in the by-election as the issue of civil liberties transcended party politics and the Liberal Democrats supported Davis's position on the issue,
People's Union for Civil Liberties were arrested, beginning The Emergency. Narayan was detained at Chandigarh, and when released in 1976, formed the PUCL to oppose the suppression of civil and political rights during the emergency. The organization was thrown into disarray by his death and the election of the Janata party to power, which promised to enact the PUCL platform. Narayan originally intended PUCL to be an organisation free from political ideologies, bringing those concerned about defending civil liberties and human rights from different backgrounds onto a common platform. According to the PUCL, the PUCLDR was a loosely organised group of people who were working