New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday recognised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party and withdrew the national party status of the All India Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).
In an order issued on Monday, the Commission also revoked the state party status granted to RLD in Uttar Pradesh, BRS in Andhra Pradesh, PDA in Manipur, PMK in Puducherry, RSP in West Bengal and MPC in Mizoram.
The Commission said the AAP has been named as a national party 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.
The poll panel said that the status of NCP, CPI and the Trinamool Congress as national political parties would be withdrawn.
The BJP, Congress, CPI(M), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), National People’s Party (NPP) and the AAP are now national parties.
The Commission said that NCP and Trinamool Congress will be recognised as state parties in Nagaland and Meghalaya respectively based on their performance in the recently concluded assembly elections.
It also granted “recognised state political party” status to the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) in Nagaland, Voice of the People Party in Meghalaya and the Tipra Motha in Tripura.
According to the rules, a political party is granted national status only if it is a recognised state party in four or more states or has 2% seats in Lok Sabha
It should be noted that once a party loses its national party status, its members cannot use a common symbol in states where the party is not recognised. Hence, TMC candidates will not be able to use their party’s symbol for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.
Calling it “nothing less than a miracle”, AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal thanked the people for the party’s success. He tweeted, “National party in such a short time? This is nothing less than a miracle. many congratulations to all Crores of people of the country have taken us here. People expect a lot from us. Today people have given us this huge responsibility Lord, bless us to fulfill this responsibility well.”
Reacting to the development, AAP’s Raghav Chadha tweeted, “In just 10 years @ArvindKejriwalji’s party has done what it took decades for big parties to do. Salute to every Aam Aadmi Party worker who shed blood, sweat, faced lathis, tear gas and water cannons for this party. Congratulations everyone for this new beginning”
(With inputs from PTI)
