EC Derecognises TMC, NCP, CPI as National Parties; AAP Gets National Status

The boost for AAP by Election Commission comes after its performance in the Punjab and Gujarat Assembly elections.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Election Commission on Monday, 10 April recognised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party and withdrew the national party status of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).

In the order issued, as quoted by PTI, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, CPI(M), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), National People's Party (NPP) and the AAP are now national parties.

Other announcements by EC:

• The NCP and Trinamool Congress will be recognised as state parties in Nagaland and Meghalaya following the recently concluded assembly elections.

• The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) in Nagaland, Voice of the People Party in Meghalaya, and Tipra Motha in Tripura were also granted the 'recognised state political party' status.

• The status of 'state party' for People's Democratic Alliance (Manipur), Pattali Makkal Katchi (Puducherry), Rashtriya Lok Dal (Uttar Pradesh), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (Andhra Pradesh), Revolutionary Socialist Party (West Bengal) and Mizoram People's Conference (Mizoram) has been withdrawn.

The derecognition of NCP and TMC comes as a disadvantage for the Sharad Pawar and Mamata Manerjee-led parties just a year ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

At the state level, the NCP is a part of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra, the Mahagathbandhan in Jharkhand, and NDPP+ in Nagaland.

What Are the Criteria for a Party To Get 'National Party' Status?

A registered political party gets 'national party' status if it fulfills one of these three criteria:

• Winning 2 percent of Lok Sabha seats from at least three different states.

• At a general election to the Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly, the party polls 6 percent of the valid votes in four or more states and in addition it wins four Lok Sabha seats.

• The party gets recognition as a state party in four states.

A statement by the EC said that the poll performances of the AAP from general elections to the 2022 Gujarat Assembly election show that its candidates polled 12.92 percent of votes in the general election and won five out of 182 seats in the Gujarat election.

Thus, the party has become eligible for recognition as a state party in the state of Gujarat, the notice says, adding that it was already a recognised state party in Punjab, Goa and the NCT of Delhi.

Thus, "the party has fulfilled the eligibility condition for (being granted) recognition as a National Party," the notice reads.