Trinamool Cong is now 7th ‘national party’ in India

New Delhi, Sept 2 (PTI) After winning two consecutiveAssembly polls in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee today added yetanother feather to her cap with her Trinamool Congress beingextended the ‘national party’ status by the ElectionCommission. Sources in the poll panel, quoting an order, saidTrinamool Congress has satisfied one of the conditionsmentioned in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment)Order, 1968 to be recognised as a national party — havingbeing recognised as a state party in at least four states. It is a recognised state party in West Bengal, Manipur,Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh. Now, India has seven recognised national parties –Congress, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI-M, NCP and All India TrinamoolCongress. Recognition as a national or a state party ensures thatthe election symbol of that party is not used by any otherpolitical entity in polls across India. Other registered butunrecognised political parties have to choose from a pool of"free symbols" announced by the commission from time to time. Besides, these parties get land or buildings from thegovernment to set up their party offices. They can have up to40 ‘star campaigners’ during electioneering. Others can haveup to 20 ‘star campaigners’. A political party becomes eligible to be recognised as anational party if it has won 2 per cent of seats in Lok Sabhafrom at least three different states in the latest generalelection; or in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election it has polled6 per cent of the total valid votes in at least four states,in addition to winning four Lok Sabha seats; or it has beenrecognised as a state party in at least four states. The poll panel had on August 22 amended a rule whereby itwill now review the national and state party status ofpolitical parties every 10 years instead of the five. Had the rule not been amended, Trinamool Congress wouldnot have been recognised as a national party as it had notperformed well in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly polls andwould have lost the state party status there. The amendment in the rule had also come as a majorreprieve for BSP, NCP and CPI as they were facing theprospect of losing their national party status after theirdismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The EC hadserved them notices in 2014 on the issue. PTI NABSC