EC withdraws National Party status of TMC, NCP, and CPI; AAP earns recognition

​​​​​The Election Commission on Monday granted national party status to the Aam Aadmi Party. The EC gave this information in a release issued on its website. Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party, and the Communist Party of India (CPI) lost their national party status. 

The decision by the EC comes after a ruling by the Karnataka HC which asked the poll body to decide on AAP national status by April 13.

For a party to be recognized as a national party, it should fulfill certain conditions. These include:

• The candidates of the party in any 4 or more states in the last General Election or to the Legislative Assembly of the state should have secured at least six percent of the total votes polled in each of the states. They should also have returned at least four members to the Lok Sabha from one or more states. 
• The party should have won at least two percent of the total number of seats in the Lower House in the last General Election and the party’s candidates should have been elected to that House from not less than three states. 

• The party should have been recognized as a state party in at least four states.

While AAP was promoted as a national party, certain other parties lost even their state party recognition, the Rashtriya Lok Dal from Uttar Pradesh being a case in point.  Another party which lost its state party status was the Revolutionary Socialist Party of West Bengal. Telangana’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi was derecognised as a state party in Andhra Pradesh.

On the other hand, the Voice of the People Party was recognised as a state party in Meghalaya. Another party which gained was the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas). It was recognised as a state party in Nagaland.

The Tipra Motha Party got recognised as a state party, owing to its good showing in the recently concluded elections in Tripura. The party had won 13 seats in the state.