The NCP, BSP and CPI(M) will benefit the most from the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to review the State and national party status every 10 years instead of five years as at present.

These parties were facing the prospect of losing their national party status after their poor performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. An EC notification issued on Monday said that while the criteria for being recognised as a national and State party will remain unchanged, the review of the status will take place every two consecutive Lok Sabha or Assembly elections instead of after every election.

To enable putting in place the latest changes, the EC has amended Paragraph 6C of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

Recognition as a national or a State party ensures that the election symbol is not used by any other political entity in polls across India.

The EC website shows that a political party that is treated as a recognised political party in four or more States will be known as a ‘national party’ throughout India, but only so long as the political party continues to fulfil the conditions for recognition in four or more States on the results of any subsequent general elections, either to the House of the People or to the Legislative Assembly.

Among other criteria, the website adds, a party shall be treated as a recognised political party in a State in which it has been engaged in political activity for five continuous years. It adds that another criterion for being recognised as a political party is that the total number of votes polled by all the candidates from such party in the last general elections is not less than 6 per cent of the total number of votes polled by all the candidates.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW