National parties Democracies that follow a federal system all over the world tend to have two kinds of political parties: parties that are present in only one of the federal units and parties that are present in several or all units of the federation. This is the case in India as well. There are some country-wide parties, which are called ‘national parties’. These parties have their units in various states.
But by and large, all these units follow the same policies, programmes and strategy that is decided at the national level. Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission. While the Commission treats all parties equally, it offers some special facilities to large and established parties. These parties are given a unique symbol – only the offi cial candidates of that party can use that election symbol.
Parties that get this privilege and some other special facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission for this purpose. That is why these parties are called, ‘recognised political parties’. The Election Commission has laid down detailed criteria of the proportion of votes and seats that a party must get in order to be a recognised party. A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in an election to the Legislative Assembly of a State and wins at least two seats is recognised as a State party.
A party that secures at least six per cent of the total votes in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly elections in four States and wins at least four seats in the Lok Sabha is recognised as a national party. According to this classifi cation, there are six recognized national parties in the country as per notification of the Election Commission of India issued in . Does the cartoon refl ect the data graphics shown on the previous page? Crunching the Numbers © Tab - The Calgary Sun , Cagle Cartoons Inc.
For more details about registration and recognition of political parties by the Election Commission of India, visit https:// eci.gov.in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP): Formed on