AAP, which got over 12% vote share in Gujarat polls, is now officially eligible to be recognised by the EC as a national party.
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lost the Gujarat elections and was restricted to just single digit in terms of seats in the state, yet the AAP headquarters in Delhi was decked up with posters and balloons, with party workers celebrating. The reason, many AAP workers said, was that the party was never hoping to win the Gujarat elections, but rather garner the national party status and at least come close to being the opposition in the state.
The AAP was successful in at least one of their plans in the larger scheme of things by contesting the Gujarat elections. The AAP, which secured over 12% vote share in the recently concluded Gujarat Assembly elections, is now officially eligible to be recognised by the Election Commission as a national party, though its hopes to be the principal opposition party in Gujarat were dashed as it was able to secure just 5 out of the 182 seats that went to polls.
According to sources in the AAP, the AAP had internally estimated that the party would be able to win about 18 to 20 seats from the state and would be able to restrict the Congress to less than 20 seats. However, the AAP was able to restrict the Congress to less than 20 seats and the Congress secured 17 out of the 182 seats, but the AAP failed to come close to its internal assessment of seats in Gujarat.
In fact, the AAP’s state president Gopal Italia, as well as its Chief Ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi, had lost the election in the state, which had somewhat demoralised its cadre in Gujarat, but Delhi saw a completely different scenario.
Since Thursday morning, new posters congratulating all AAP workers in Gujarat for helping the party secure a national party status were put up across the party office in Delhi. Songs were also seen playing in the background in the AAP office in Delhi, with most AAP workers from the national capital seemingly happy that it was now able to call itself as a national party.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had on Thursday also put out a video congratulating AAP workers from Gujarat as they helped the party secure 12.92% vote share for the party, making it eligible to get itself recognised as a national party. In his video message, Kejriwal on Thursday said, “Congratulations to all the workers of AAP and to the people of India; today AAP has become a national party. The people of Gujarat have today made AAP a national party. The number of votes the AAP secured in Gujarat has now made the AAP a national party legally. There are a very few parties in India that are legally national party and now AAP is one of them.”
An AAP worker from Delhi told The Sunday Guardian, “The result was known, the AAP was never hoping to dethrone the BJP in Gujarat as this was not practically possible in a state where the Prime Minister comes from, but the larger objective of the AAP has been achieved.”
Another AAP leader from Gujarat said that the AAP for the first time contested in Gujarat and was able to get over 12% votes which was not an easy task and, therefore, the party feels that Gujarat is a fertile ground for the AAP to grow for the coming elections in the state.
However, Congress workers are sulking over the performance of the AAP in Gujarat and, according to senior journalists from Gujarat, AAP and Congress workers also went into verbal clashes in many parts of the state after the Congress felt that it was due to the AAP that the Congress was not able to perform in Gujarat.
However, the AAP’s most coveted national party status that has been celebrated since Thursday afternoon comes with a plethora of benefits. Once the AAP is officially recognised as a national party by the Election Commission of India, it would be eligible to get land allotted in the name of the party for its party office in Central Delhi.
The party would also be getting broadcast bands in Akashvani and Doordarshan during national elections. A national party is also eligible to have 40 star campaigners and their expenses during election would not be counted under the expenses of the candidate they are campaigning for.
The national party status also makes the party eligible to get a list of the most updated electoral roll, two copies from the Election Commission for free. The AAP’s electoral symbol “the broom” will also remain unchanged across the country.
The national party status is often considered as elite status among political outfits in India, since only nine political parties in India so far have been able to achieve this status. Apart from the Congress and the BJP, the TMC, NCP, BSP, CPI and the National People’s Party have been given this status so far. However, NCP, TMC, BSP and CPI have been put on notice by the Election Commission as they are likely to lose their national party status, since they have not been able to keep up with the eligibility criteria for some years now.