As per Election Commission, a political party shall be eligible to be recognised as national party, if, and only if, the candidates set up by the party, in any four or more states, at the last general election to the Lok Sabha, or to the state Assembly concerned, have secured not less than six per cent of the total valid votes polled in each of those States at that general election; and, in addition, it has returned at least four members to the Lok Sabha at the aforesaid last general election from any state or states.
Also at the last general election to the Lok Sabha, the party must have won at least two per cent of the total number of seats in the house, any fraction exceeding half being counted as one, and the party’s candidates have been elected to the House from not less than three states, or the party is recognised as a state party in at least four states.
The national party status gives many advantages to a political party as they get a common party symbol across states, space for a party office in New Delhi, and free airtime during elections on public broadcasters.
Sources said that the national party status of the NCP, the Trinamool, and the CPI came up for review before the Election Commission after the 2019 general election. However, the Commission decided to retain the status quo keeping in view upcoming state elections at that time.