TMC, NCP And CPI Lose Their National Party Status After EC’s Order
In a major development in the Indian political landscape, the Election Commission (EC) has stripped the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Communist Party of India (CPI) of their national party status. The EC's order came after a review of their performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and subsequent state assembly polls. According to the EC's guidelines, a political party needs to either win 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three different states in the latest general election or win at least 6% of the total valid votes in at least four different states in the latest state assembly polls to be recognized as a national party. However, the TMC, NCP, and CPI failed to meet these criteria, leading to the loss of their national party status. The TMC, which is the ruling party in West Bengal , won 22 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but failed to win any seats in the other states. The NCP won only 5 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra and...