The Election Commission has updated the list of national parties
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 of these three conditions need to be met if a party is to be called a "national party".
1. A party's candidates in a minimum of four states must get at least 6 per cent of the total votes polled in each of those states in the last national election. In addition to this, it should have won four seats in the Lok Sabha.
2. A party should win a minimum of 2 per cent of the total seats in the Lok Sabha. The party's candidates should have been elected from not less than three states.
3. A party is recognised as a "state party" in at least four states.
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.
The Trinamool got the "national party" tag in 2016, but its poor show in Goa and some northeast states led to the withdrawal of the status.
The NCP was formed by Sharad Pawar in 1999 and became a national party in 2000 following a series of wins in several elections.
The CPI, founded in 1925, was recognised as a national party in 1989, but the tag was withdrawn after its poor performance in the West Bengal and Odisha elections.