Ahead of 2024 polls, EC likely to issue list of new national, state parties

Ahead of the 2024 general elections, the Election Commission (EC) is likely to announce a fresh list of recognised national and state parties, people aware of the matter told HindustanTimes. They further added that the derecognised parties will be allowed to retain their symbols as per rules.

“The Commission is undertaking the review of the parties,” one person on the condition of anonymity told HT. “This is a regular process. It began after the general elections in 2019 and was paused due to Covid,” he added.

To earn a national party status, a political outfit needs to be recognised as state party in four states and have at least two members in the respective legislative assemblies, according to the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) order, 1968. And in order become eligible to be recognised as the state party, a political outfit has to win two seats and secures a minimum six per cent votes in the state.

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When a national party status is achieved, a party posses number of advantages such as common party symbol across states, free airtime during elections on public broadcasters, space for a party office in New Delhi, etc. A recognised national party can contest on all Lok Sabha and assembly seats on its symbol. It also gets to field more star campaigners for electioneering. 

Currently, BJP, BSP, CPI, CPI-M, Congress, TMC, NCP and National People's Party are the eight recognised national parties. There are over 50 recognised state parties.

In March 2023, after a halt due to the Covid pandemic, EC restarted the process of reviewing the recognised status of political parties based on their performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and has given individual hearings to NCP and CPI, two of the eight recognised national parties.

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EC sources told news agency PTI that said TMC was also called. When asked whether he had represented his party before the EC, TMC MP Sukhendu Shekar Ray replied in the negative. The commission also heard six recognised state parties based on paras 6A, B and C of the Election Symbol (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. The paragraphs deal with criteria for parties to get national or state party status.

After the 2019 parliamentary polls, the EC had issued notices to TMC, CPI and NCP, asking why their status should not be downgraded based on the outcome of the general election. However, the process could not move forward due to the pandemic. In November last year, the poll panel revived the process. On 21 March, it heard the response of the Nationalist Congress Party and the CPI.

"It is a routine exercise. We gave a written representation to EC explaining that we are the oldest political party and have been taking part in parliamentary democracy, formed government on its own in Kerala and have been part of many coalition governments," CPI general secretary D Raja said.

An NCP representative had submitted details to EC officials. A senior party leader described the notice as a "routine matter". "It is an ongoing process which is carried out after every election. Things might have changed for some parties after the recent assembly polls in three states. After Karnataka polls, things could change for other parties," explained a party functionary.

Earlier, the Election Commission heard six state parties to seek their views on the notices. These are Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Mizoram Peoples Conference, Rashtriya Lok Dal, People's Democratic Alliance, Pattali Makkal Katchi and Revolutionary Socialist Party.

Meanwhile, the EC also recently said that it is still looking into the issue of according the national status to the Aam Aadmi Party. "It is under review... We will soon come back to you," Chief EC Rajiv Kumar told a press conference when asked about the issue. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party's electoral performances last year paved the way for it to be recognised by the Election Commission as a national party. The AAP has been recognised as a state party Delhi, Punjab, Goa and Gujarat. The AAP stormed to power in Punjab winning 92 of the 117 assembly seats, recording a stupendous victory in the state assembly polls last year. It was anyway already recognised as a state party in the state. In Goa, it bagged two seats and secured an overall vote share of 6.77 per cent, leading to its recognition as a state party in the coastal state. By the end of the 2022, the AAP's national ambition got wings as it won five seats and secured an overall vote share of 13 percent in the Gujarat assembly polls, which was enough for the AAP to be recognised as the state party.

(With inputs from agencies)