Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) is likely to legally challenge the revocation of its ‘national party’ status by the Election Commission of India (ECI) which has further reduced the party’s chances of increasing its footprint outside West Bengal.
The issue of revocation of its national party status was hanging over Trinamool Congress like the sword of Damocles since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls till it finally fell on Monday when the ECI stripped it of the status, along with two other parties.
Although no confirmation was received at the moment surrounding the chances of TMC legally challenging the revocation, however, party sources said that a discussion is being held by the top-rung leaders of the party concerning the next step.
Trinamool’s senior Lok Sabha MP and seasoned parliamentarian, Sougata Roy is of the opinion that the Election Commission has taken several wrong decisions in the past and was warned by the Supreme Court many times. He is learnt to have said that the party will send a deputation to the Commission while also considering legal options.
Party’s spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that a detailed statement concerning the legal aspect can only be conveyed once the top bosses of Trinamool give a green signal.
In 2019, the Election Commission of India issued show cause notices to three parties, including TMC, asking why their national party status should not be revoked after their performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
Next, in March 2023, the EC again raised a question. In between, TMC made several attempts to spread its footprint outside Bengal, mainly in states such as Goa, Tripura and Meghalaya. While it drew a blank in Goa and Tripura, the party had highlighted that in Meghalaya Assembly polls it secured 15 per cent of the total votes at a time when it had no prior presence in that state.
According to the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, a political party shall be eligible to be recognised as a national party, if, and only if, any of the following conditions are fulfilled — firstly, the candidates set up by the party, in any four or more states, at the last general election to the House of the People, or to the Legislative Assembly of the state 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 House of the People at the aforesaid last general election from any state or states.
Secondly, at the last general election to the House of the People, the party won at least two per cent of the total number of seats in the House of the People, any fraction exceeding half being counted as one, and the party’s candidates have been elected to that House from not less than three states; or thirdly, the party is recognised as state party in at least four states.