Amidst multifarious speculations regarding India’s political future, one speculation that is doing the rounds is that India is probably on the path of becoming a nation with just three national parties. There is always some or the other reason behind speculations, and the major reason behind this theory is the bad performance of some political parties in the Lok Sabha elections.
The political analysts believe that the Nationalist Congress Party headed by Sharad Pawar, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party, and the Communist Party of India are on the verge of being dissolved, owing to their poor performance in elections. Very soon, these parties are going to lose their national status completely. On the other hand, the analysts believe there are three political parties that are going to be the only rulers of the country. They are – Bhartiya Janata Party, Congress, and CPI (M).
The Election Commission of India has some criteria that govern the functioning and the status of a party in political system of the country. A party needs to acquire a minimum of 6 percent votes from at least 4 states, or 2 percent of total seats in Lok Sabha from a minimum of 3 states. Yet another criterion entails a party’s recognition as a state party in at least four states of the country.
The three parties mentioned above – NCP, BSP, and CPI – fell short of these standards and requirements considerably in the recent Lok Sabha Elections, which has posed a serious threat on their national party status. This is why the ECI has served show-cause notice to all three parties and has asked them to give one valid reason based on which their national party status should not be taken back, even after their overwhelming defeat in the elections.
If the decision of taking back the tag of National Party is actually implemented the NCP, BSP, and CPI will fall from grace and loose all the rights and facilities. They will no longer be in a position to contest elections under the same symbol in any part of the country. The symbol can only be used in the states where they enjoy the status of being a state party. They could also lose the facility of using media platforms like Doordarshan and All India Radio for their electoral purposes. If all these speculations come alive, BJP, Congress, and CPI (M) will be the only National Parties left to rule the Indian Political system.
