BSP gets national status, JP downgraded

In a series of significant decisions announced today, the Election Commission also downgraded Subramaniam Swamy’s Janata Party to a state party, decided to allow the BSP retain the elephant as its election symbol in most parts of the country and derecognised the All India Congress Committee (Tiwari) at the national level.

The EC also reviewed the performance of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in the last general elections but decided to maintain a status quo on its status. There has been a considerable erosion of the CPI’s votes and a fall in the party’s vote percentage.

In the case of the BSP, after registering a significant presence in the four states of Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and UP, the party has fulfilled all the conditions for its recognition as a national party, the three-member Commission decided.

In a compromise formula worker out by Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurthy, the Commission decided that four parties would share the “elephant” symbol.

The Commission has directed that the BSP would continue to have the symbol for its exclusive use in all states and Union Territories except Assam, Sikkim and Pondicherry where the symbol has been allotted to the Assom Gana Parishad, the Sikkim Sangram Parishad and the Pattali Makkal Katchi respectively.

On the Janata Party, a two-member bench of the Commission ruled that the party fulfilled the conditions for recognition as a state party only in Arunachal Pradesh, with the symbol “haldhar within wheel” reserved for it.

Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill and Election Commissioner J M Lyndoh said, “The party has lost its recognition and therefore has ceased to be a national party henceforth” under the terms of the Election Symbols Order 1968.

With AICC (Tiwari) office-bearers like N D Tiwari, Arjun Singh and P R Kumaramangalam returning to the Congress fold and the party merging with the Indain National Congress, the Commission said the party was no longer entitled to be recognised as a national party and would be recognised as a state party only in Rajasthan.

Two motley groups of the AICC (T) have claimed that the party had not merged with the Indian National Congress. The Commission recognised the group led by Jageshwar Nath as the AICC (Tiwari), but directed it to modify the name by deleting the suffix `Tiwari’ since N D Tiwari had already left the party.

The Commission also derecognised a number of small parties like the J and K Panthers’ Party, J and K People’s Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, Indira Congress (Socialist) in Kerala and Manipur and Marumelarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in Tamil Nadu as state parties.

The Pattali Makkal Katchi lost recognition as a state party in Tamil Nadu but would retain its state status in Pondicherry with the “elephant” symbol.