Election commission has updated the list of national parties
New Delhi:
The Election Commission has recognized the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party and withdrawn the national party status of All India Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Communist Party of India (CPI).
The Election Commission also granted state party status to Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Andhra Pradesh, People’s Democratic Alliance in Manipur, Pattali Makkal Katchi in Puducherry, Revolutionary Socialist Party in West Bengal and Mizoram. has been removed. People’s Conference in Mizoram
Trinamool, NCP and CPI does not fall within the definition of a “national party”.
According to the Election Commission, three conditions need to be met for a party to be called a “national party”.
1. A party’s candidates in at least four states must have received at least 6 percent of the total votes polled in each of those states in the last national election. Apart from this, it should have won four seats in the Lok Sabha.
2. A party must win at least 2 percent of the total seats in the Lok Sabha. The party’s candidates must have been elected from at least three states.
3. A party recognized as a “state party” in at least four states.
The first seven national parties were Trinamool, Bahujan Samaj Party, BJP, CPI, CPI (Marxist), Congress and NCP.
Now, with the removal of NCP, Trinamool and CPI and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s inclusion of AAP in the list, there are five national parties in the country.