On April 10, the Election Commission (EC) withdrew the national party status from the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) and recognised Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party.
The EC based their decision on parties’ poll performances in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 21 state assembly polls since 2014. It is pertinent to note that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), National People’s Party (NPP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) and AAP are now India’s six national parties.
A political party must fulfil certain conditions to be granted national status in accordance with the Political Parties and Election Symbols, 2019 handbook:
- The political party must secure at least 6 per cent of votes polled in at least four states in the Lok Sabha elections or the state elections. Furthermore, it must win at least four Lok Sabha constituencies from any state(s).
- The political party must have won 2 per cent seats in the last Lok Sabha elections from at least three states.
- The political party must be recognised as a state party in at least four states.
It is pertinent to note that a political party receives numerous benefits after achieving a national party status including a common party symbol across states, free airtime during the election on public broadcasters, a space to set up the party’s office in Delhi, etc.
AAP gained national status after it became a state party in Gujarat as it secured 12.92 per cent votes in recent assembly elections, after its success in Delhi, Goa and Punjab. AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “National party in such a short time? This is nothing less than a miracle. Many congratulations to all. Crores of people from the country have brought us here. People expect a lot from us. Today, people have given us this huge responsibility.”
However, the TMC lost its national party status due to their abysmal performance in Goa and the north-eastern states, it received the national party status in 2016. Furthermore, the TMC is not recognised as a state party in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh anymore. The West Bengal TMC’s Vice President Jay Prakash said, “The TMC has been enjoying the status of a national party for quite a long period. The ECI from time to time comes up with yardsticks for the classification of national parties, regional parties, registered parties etc. We have to check what exactly has changed. The TMC had presented its case before the poll panel elaborately. Everyone knows how the ECI has lost its neutrality. We have to check what exactly happened and whether there was any influence of the ruling party.”
Furthermore, the NCP lost its national party status after losing its state party status in Goa, Manipur, and Meghalaya as it secured 2.28, 0.95 and 1.61 per cent vote share respectively. Though, the NCP received state party status in Nagaland after its success in recent assembly elections.
The NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “After making a careful submission to all the queries raised by the election commission, we see the order as a shock. We will again approach the commission with a representation to restore our national status.”
The CPI has lost its national party status after losing its state party status in West Bengal and Odisha after it secured 1.45 and 0.12 per cent votes respectively. However, it remains a state party in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Manipur.
The CPI national secretary Binoy Biswam said, “National recognition is of course important from a technical point of view. CPI’s recognition is in the hearts of the toiling masses. It is built up with the blood, sweat and tears of the fighting people. The party will intensify its battle for democracy, secularism and socialism,” in an interview with PTI.
The EC also granted state party status to Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in Nagaland, Voice of the People Party in Meghalaya, and Tipra Motha in Tripura after reviewing their recent poll performance in the assembly elections.
However, the EC withdrew state party status from People Democratic Alliance in Manipur, Pattali Makkal Katchi in Puducherry, Rashtriya Lok Dal in Uttar Pradesh, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (previously Telangana Rashtriya Samithi) in Andhra Pradesh, Revolutionary Socialist Party in West Bengal and Mizoram People’s Conference in Mizoram.
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