The Election Commission has updated the list of national parties

New Delhi:

The Election Commission has recognised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party and withdrew the national party status of the All India Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI).

The EC has also removed state party status granted to Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh, Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) in Andhra Pradesh, People’s Democratic Alliance in Manipur, Pattali Makkal Katchi in Puducherry, Revolutionary Socialist Party in West Bengal and Mizoram People’s Conference in Mizoram.

The Trinamool, NCP and the CPI no longer come under the definition of a “national party”.

According to the Election Commission, any party that wins a minimum of six per cent of the total votes in the national election, or recognised as “state parties” in at least four states, or gets a minimum of four seats in the Lok Sabha, may be recognised as a national party.

Earlier, there were seven national parties – Trinamool, Bahujan Samaj Party, BJP, CPI, CPI (Marxist), Congress and NCP.

Now, with NCP, Trinamool and CPI removed and the addition of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP to the list, the country has five national parties.