Central# Election#country#Mamata Banerjee
New Delhi (A.11): The three political parties of the country namely Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and Communist Party of India have lost their national party status. On Tuesday, the Central Election Commission announced that the national party status of these three parties had been withdrawn. On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party has been given the status of a national party which was taken away from the NCP. Before the Karnataka elections, Aam Aadmi Party’s status as a national party is a cause for celebration. In the category of regional parties, the Central Election Commission has removed the status of regional parties given to K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and Rashtriya Lok Dal. Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party has been recognized as a regional party in Nagaland, while Tipra Motha Party has been recognized as a regional party in Tripura.
The Election Commission itself reviews the status of recognized national and state political parties, which is an ongoing process under the Symbol Order 1968. Since 2019, the Election Commission has upgraded the status of 16 political parties and withdrawn the current status of 9 national state political parties.
Elsewhere, the Central Election Commission has stripped the RLD of its regional party status in Uttar Pradesh, while the Revolutionary Socialist Party has lost its regional party status in West Bengal. The Voice of the People Party has achieved regional party status in Meghalaya.
Benefits to the National Party
1. A national party is assigned a specific election symbol. The election symbol of a national party cannot be used by any other party in the entire country.
2. A single proposer is sufficient to file nomination for recognized ‘State and National’ parties.
3. The Election Commission (in case of revision of electoral roll) will issue two sets of electoral rolls free of charge to recognized ‘State’ and ‘National’ parties. Also, the candidates contesting from these parties get a copy of the voter list free of charge during the general elections.
4. These parties get land or buildings from the government to set up their party offices.
5. State and national parties can hire 40 star campaigners and other parties can hire ’20 star campaigners’ during election campaign. Travel expenses of star campaigners are not included in election expenses of their party candidates.
6. These parties are allowed to broadcast television and radio at national and state level shortly before the elections. This will enable them to reach maximum number of people.