EC grants national party status to AAP; strips Trinamool, NCP, CPI of tag

The Election Commission (EC) on Monday stripped the Trinamool Congress, the Communist Party of India and the Nationalist Congress Party of their ‘national party’ status, while granting the same to the Aam Aadmi Party.

The commission also withdrew the state party status granted to the Rashtriya Lok Dal in Uttar Pradesh, Bharat Rashtra Samiti in Andhra Pradesh, Pattali Makkal Katchi in Puducherry, Revolutionary Socialist Party in West Bengal, People’s Democratic Alliance in Manipur, Mizoram People’s Conference in Mizoram.

The EC on Monday issued a number of separate orders – recognising some political parties as national or state party, as well as stripping others of the same statuses.

The commission recognised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party in view of its performance in the state assembly election in Gujarat in December 2022. The candidates fielded by the party secured 12.92% of the valid votes polled in the assembly elections in the western state. It won five out of the 182 seats in the state assembly. It thus qualified to be recognized as a state party in Gujarat.

The AAP, which came into existence in November 2012, has already been a state party in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Punjab and Goa. The EC stated that the AAP’s recognition as a state party in Gujarat earned it the status of national party too.

The Paragraph 6B (iii) of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968, a.k.a. Symbols Order, allows the EC to recognise a party as a national party if it gains the state party status in four states.

The AAP is currently in power in Delhi and Punjab.

“No one can stop an idea whose time has come. Aam Aadmi Party's time has come. India's time has come,” Arvind Kejriwal, the party supremo and the chief minister of the NCT of Delhi, posted on Twitter. “Congratulations to all our supporters & (and) volunteers. We are now a national party.”

Mamata Banerjee floated the Trinamool Congress in 1998 after leaving the Congress. The party came to power in West Bengal in 2011 and subsequently expanded to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura. It received the national party tag in 2016, but its poor performance in Goa and some northeastern states in the assembly elections over the past few months led to withdrawal of the status.

The NCP was formed by Sharad Pawar, another former Congress leader, in 1999 and became a national party in 2000 following its success in various elections.

The CPI, founded in 1925, was recognised as a national party in 1989, but the tag was withdrawn following its dismal performance in West Bengal and Odisha elections.

The EC stated that the 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, in addition to Maharashtra and West Bengal respectively.

The commission on Monday 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.