Recently India has got its 7th National Political Party as All India Trinmool Congress. This recognition is given after it fulfilled the criteria by becoming state party in four states namely West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur & Arunachal Pradesh. Six other National Parties are BJP, Congress, CPI, CPI (M), BSP, and NCP.
How a Political Party is recognized as a State Party?
Recognition of a Party as national or state party is based on the basis of criteria listed under The Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. Since 1968 this order has been amended at various occasions.
State Party
The Article 6A of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 defined conditions for recognition as State Party as follows:
6A. Conditions for recognition as a State Party – Apolitical party shall be eligible for recognition as a State party in a State, if, and only if, any of the following conditions is fulfilled:
(i) At the last general election to the Legislative Assembly of the State, the candidates set up by the party have secured not less than six percent of the total valid votes polled in the State; and, in addition, the party has returned at least two members to the Legislative Assembly of that State at such general election; or
(ii) At the last general election to the House of the People from that State, the candidates set up by the party have secured not less than six percent of the total valid votes polled in the State; and, in addition, the party has returned at least one member to the House of the People from that State at such general election; or
(iii) At the last general election to the Legislative Assembly of the State, the party has won at least three percent of the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly, (any fraction exceeding half being counted as one), or at least three seats in the Assembly, whichever is more; or
(iv) At the last general election to the House of the People from the State, the party has returned at least one member to the House of the People for every 25 members or any fraction thereof allotted to that State;] or
(v) At the last general election to the House of the People from the State, or at the last general election to the Legislative Assembly of the State, the candidates set up by the Party have secured not less than eight percent of the total valid votes polled in the State.
From above definition we can derive five minimum criteria for recognition as a State Party
- Secure at least 6% of the valid vote and win at least 2 seats in an Assembly General Election
- Secure at least 6% of the valid vote and win at least 1 seat in a Lok Sabha General Election
- Win at least 3% of the seats or at least 3 seats, whichever is more, in an Assembly General Election
- Win at least 1 out of every 25 seats from a state in a Lok Sabha General Election
- Secure at least 8% of the total valid vote in an Assembly or a Lok Sabha General Election
There are so many state parties in India Like JDU, RJD, Samajwadi Party, DMK, AIADMK etc. in different states of India. Total number of state parties in India is around 50.
National Party
The Article 6B of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 defined conditions for recognition as National Party as follows:
6B. Conditions for recognition as a National Party – A political party shall be eligible to be recognized as National party, if, and only if, any of the following conditions is fulfilled:
(i) The candidates set up by the party, in any four or more States, at the last general election to the House of the People, or to the Legislative Assembly of the State concerned, have secured not less than six percent of the total valid votes polled in each of those States at that general election; and, in addition, it has returned at least four members to the House of the People at the aforesaid last general election from any State or States; or
(ii) At the last general election to the House of the People, the party has won at least two percent of the total number of seats in the House of the People, any fraction exceeding half being counted as one; and the party’s candidates have been elected to that House from not less than three States; or
(iii) The party is recognized as State party in at least four States.
From the definition given in article 6B we can get these three minimum criteria for recognition as a National Party
- Secure at least 6% of the valid vote in an Assembly or a Lok Sabha General Election in any four or more states and won at least 4 seats in a Lok Sabha General Election from any State or States
- Win at least 2% of the total Lok Sabha seats in a Lok Sabha General Election and these seats have to be won from at least 3 states
- The party is recognized as a State Party in at least four states
Major advantage of being a National Party is reservation of its symbol from the list of free symbols. In case of recognition as a State Party, all the candidates contesting election throughout the state can use same symbol. In case of a National Party the contestants can use same symbol throughout the country.
Apart from symbol reservation, it gets many more benefits like free supply of electoral roll copies during elections, subsidized lands for party office, free airtime on Doordarshan and All India Radio, right to membership at various institutions and many more.
You may like reading:
Election Commission of India (ECI)
The Parliament : Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
Formation of Indian National Congress