Here’s the list of national parties in India now after Election Commission’s rejig

All political parties in India should fulfil certain criteria to earn the national party status. Here is the updated list of all national parties in India.  

The BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party are among the five national parties in India. (Photo: PTI)

By India Today News Desk: The Election Commission of India on Monday withdrew the national party status of Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party and the Communist Party of India (CPI) and recognised Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party.

A ‘national party’ is a party that has a presence nationally as opposed to a regional party whose presence is restricted to only a particular region or state, such as DMK in Tamil Nadu, BJD in Odisha, YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, RJD in Bihar or BRS in Telangana.

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All parties should fulfil certain criteria to earn the coveted tag. With the recent rejig, here is the complete list of national parties in India.

• Aam Aadmi Party
• Bahujan Samaj Party
• Bharatiya Janata Party
• Communist Party of India (Marxist)
• Indian National Congress
• National People’s Party (NPP)

As per the ECI’s Political Parties and Election Symbols, 2019 handbook, a political party would be considered a national party if

1. it is ‘recognised’ in four or more states; or
2. if its candidates polled at least 6% of total valid votes in any four or more states in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections and has at least four MPs in the last Lok Sabha polls
3. if it has won at least 2% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha from not less than three states.