The Election Commission on Monday granted national party status to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), based on its electoral performance in four states — Delhi, Goa, Punjab and Gujarat. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party is in power in Delhi and Punjab.
It also de-recognised Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congres Party (NCP) and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC as national parties. The ECI had issued show-cause notices to the three parties in July 2019, asking them to explain why their national party status should not be revoked, after their performance in the Lok Sabha elections that year.
The polling body has also withdrawn the state party status of RLD in Uttar Pradesh. Also, the Revolutionary Socialist Party has been de-recognised as a state party in West Bengal.
The Commission also revoked the state party status granted to BRS in Andhra Pradesh, PDA in Manipur, PMK in Puducherry and MPC in Mizoram. The BJP, Congress, CPI(M), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), National People’s Party (NPP) and the AAP are now national parties.
Under Para 6B the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, a party is eligible to be considered as a national party if it is a recognised state party in four or more states; if its candidates polled at least 6% of the valid votes in four or more states in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly election and it has at least four MPs elected in the last election or if it wins at least 2% of the total Lok Sabha seats in at least three states.
