AAP gets national party tag, NCP, TMC, CPI lose status

In a boost for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, the Election Commission (EC) recognised it as a national party on Monday.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Communist Party of India (CPI), however, lost their national party status.

The EC’s decision was based on a review of the parties’ poll performances — the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 21 state assembly polls since 2014.

Besides other benefits, the status of a national party ensures that the party’s symbol is reserved for its candidates across the country, and it gets land for an office in the national capital.