A recognised party is a political party that has been officially recognised by the Election Commission of India (ECI) as either a National Party or a State Party.
Recognition is given under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. It is based on a party’s electoral performance in Lok Sabha or State Assembly elections.
Types of Recognised Parties
Recognised parties are of two types:
National Party
A party recognised at the national level because it has electoral presence across multiple states.
State Party
A party recognised in a particular state because it has achieved the required vote share or seat share in that state.
Parties that are registered with the ECI but do not meet recognition criteria are called Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs).
National Party Criteria
A political party can be recognised as a National Party if it fulfils any one of the following conditions:
It secures at least 6% of valid votes in four or more states in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election and wins at least 4 Lok Sabha seats.
Or, it wins at least 2% of total Lok Sabha seats from at least three different states.
Or, it is recognised as a State Party in at least four states.
The ECI currently lists recognised national and state parties separately on its official political parties page.
State Party Criteria
A political party can be recognised as a State Party if it fulfils any one of the prescribed conditions in that state.
Important conditions include:
It secures at least 6% of valid votes in the State Assembly election and wins at least 2 Assembly seats.
Or, it secures at least 6% of valid votes in the Lok Sabha election from that state and wins at least 1 Lok Sabha seat from that state.
Or, it wins at least 3% of Assembly seats or 3 seats, whichever is higher.
Or, it wins at least 1 Lok Sabha seat for every 25 Lok Sabha seats allotted to that state.
Or, it secures at least 8% of total valid votes in the state in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election.
Benefits of Recognition
Recognition gives a political party several electoral advantages.
The most important benefit is a reserved election symbol.
A recognised National Party gets exclusive use of its symbol across India. A recognised State Party gets exclusive use of its symbol in that particular state.
Other benefits include:
- free broadcast time on Doordarshan and All India Radio during elections
- consultation by ECI during election-related discussions
- star campaigner facility
- easier symbol identification among voters
- greater political legitimacy
- access to electoral rolls and other election-related facilities as per rules
Current National Parties
As per the latest ECI-recognised national party position commonly cited after the 2024 list, India has six recognised national parties:
- Bharatiya Janata Party
- Indian National Congress
- Communist Party of India (Marxist)
- Bahujan Samaj Party
- Aam Aadmi Party
- National People’s Party
ECI periodically reviews recognised party status based on electoral performance. The review system was amended so that recognised status is generally reviewed after two consecutive elections, rather than after every election cycle.
Significance
Recognised party status matters because India’s election system depends heavily on party symbols, especially for voter identification.
In a country with linguistic diversity, large rural electorate and varying literacy levels, symbols help voters identify parties easily.
Recognition also separates electorally significant parties from thousands of registered but unrecognised parties.
Concerns
Recognition criteria are based mainly on vote share and seats, so smaller parties with concentrated social influence may remain unrecognised if they fail to meet numerical thresholds.
Another concern is the large number of registered unrecognised political parties. Some may be inactive or created for non-electoral purposes, which is why ECI has periodically reviewed and delisted inactive RUPPs.
The system tries to balance political participation with electoral clarity.
