National People’s Party

National People’s Party

Political troubleshooting is going on in Manipur after the four MLAs of the National People's Party (NPP) along with few others had withdrawn support from the ruling government recently.

Key Points

• National People’s Party:
• The NPP got the status of the national party in 2019 after it was recognized as a state party in four states — Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Meghalaya.
• It is the eighth party to get the recognition — after INC, BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI, CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress. It is also the first party from Northeast India to be recognized as a national party.
• Types of Parties:
• The Election Commission of India lists political parties as “national party”, “state party” or “registered (unrecognized) party”.
• The conditions for being listed as a national or a state party are specified under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
• National Party:
• For recognition as a national party, a party has to satisfy these conditions:
• 6% valid votes polled in any four or more states at a general election to the Lok Sabha or to the State legislative assembly; and, also, it wins four seats in the Lok Sabha from any state or states.
• 2% of all Lok Sabha seats in the last such election, with MPs, elected from at least three states.
• Recognition as a state party in at least four states.
• State Party:
• For recognition as a state party, any one of five conditions needs to be satisfied:
• Two seats plus a 6% vote share in the last Assembly election in that state.
• One seat plus a 6% vote share in the last Lok Sabha election from that state.
• 3% of the total Assembly seats or 3 seats, whichever is more.
• One of every 25 Lok Sabha seats (or an equivalent fraction) from a state.
• An 8% state-wide vote share in either the last Lok Sabha or the last Assembly polls.
• Loss of Recognised Status:
• Once recognized as a national or a state party, a political party loses its given status only if it fails to fulfill any of the conditions for two successive Assembly and two successive Lok Sabha elections.
• That means a party retains that status irrespective of its performance in the next elections.