Trinamool Congress Loses National Party Status

The Election Commission (EC), which had given the Mamata Banerjee-led party the status of a national party in 2016, has now taken it away a year before Lok Sabha polls.

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Trinamool Congress, which aimed to play a significant role in national politics until recently, is now at a critical juncture. Despite expanding into states like Goa and Tripura, its plans have fallen through. The party lost its national status, a year before Lok Sabha polls after the Election Commission (EC) stripped it of the title it had bestowed in 2016.

The party’s situation highlights its struggle to maintain its relevance. After the victory in the Assembly elections in 2021, Trinamool Congress projected itself as the biggest force against the BJP. However, it failed to make an impact in Goa or Tripura. Additionally, several of the party’s top leaders were arrested for corruption, further damaging the party’s image.

According to Paragraph 6B of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, a national party must have at least 6% vote share in four or more states in the last Lok Sabha or Assembly elections, and have at least four MPs, or at least 2% of the seats in the Lok Sabha, with its candidates having been elected from at least three states. In its review, the EC found the TMC did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and got 0.4% and 43.28% of the votes in Tripura and West Bengal, respectively. In the Assembly polls from 2016 to 2018, the party’s vote share was 44.91% in West Bengal, 1.41% in Manipur, and 0.3% in Tripura. Party leaders said legal options for challenging the EC decision were being explored. The TMC’s rivals took digs at it over the EC’s decision, and Dilip Ghosh, BJP national vice-president, stated that the TMC could not forcibly become a national party.

Re-reported from the story originally published in indianexpress