<h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong style="color: rgb(230, 0, 0);">National Party Status</strong></h1><p class="ql-align-center"><br></p><p><strong>CONTEXT</strong>: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has qualified to become India’s ninth national party, with its performance in the Gujarat elections.</p><p><br></p><h3 class="ql-align-justify"><strong>About</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-align-justify">To obtain a national status, political parties have to fulfill any of the <strong>three conditions:</strong></li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Winning 2% seats or 11 seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three different states in the latest general election.</strong></li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Recognition as a state party in at least four states.</strong></li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Polling 6% of the total valid votes in at least four states, in addition to winning four Lok Sabha seats.</strong></li></ul><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><h3 class="ql-align-justify"><strong>AAP as the 9th National Party</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-align-justify">The AAP party has already fulfilled the criteria for recognition as a state party in 3 states (Delhi, Punjab and Goa).</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, AAP got the required votes to be recognised as a State Party.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Gujarat will be the 4th state where AAP is recognised as a State party fulfilling the criteria to recognise AAP as a National Party.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">After being recognised as a national party, the AAP can claim ‘the broom’ as a reserved symbol for itself across the country.</li></ul><p class="ql-align-justify"><br></p><h3 class="ql-align-justify"><strong>Advantages of Becoming a National Party</strong></h3><ul><li class="ql-align-justify">The National Party is entitled to a <strong>reserved symbol for its candidates contesting from across the country.</strong></li><li class="ql-align-justify">Candidates from a national party require only one proposer to file their nominations and are entitled to two sets of electoral rolls free of cost.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">National parties get dedicated broadcast slots on public broadcasters Doordarshan and All India Radio during the general elections.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">A national party can have a<strong> maximum of 40 ‘star campaigners</strong>’ while a registered unrecognized party can nominate a maximum of 20 ‘star campaigners’, whose travel expenses are not accounted for in the election expense accounts of candidates.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">It also means a government bungalow in New Delhi for its national president and office space at a subsidized rate in the national capital</li><li class="ql-align-justify"><strong>The other 8 National Parties in India</strong></li><li>BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI(M), CPI, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Meghalaya’s National People’s Party (NPP) (recognised in 2019).</li></ul><p><br></p><h1 class="ql-align-center"><strong>PRELIMS NOTES:</strong><a href="https://www.sunyaias.com/subscription-details/prelims-2023-sunya-notes-current-affairs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 204);"><strong>CLICK HERE</strong></a></h1>