Arvind Kejriwal termed AAP's rise as a national party "nothing less than a miracle".
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, an offshoot of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement in 2011, was elevated to national party status on Monday. The party is currently in power in two states - Delhi and Punjab.
The Election Commission said AAP has been deemed a national party based on its electoral performance in four states - Delhi, Goa, Punjab and Gujarat.
Party boss Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, termed the development a "huge responsibility" and called it "nothing less than a miracle" that AAP had achieved national party status in record time.
"National party in such a short time? This is nothing less than a miracle. Many congratulations to all. Crores of people of the country have taken us here. People expect a lot from us. Today people have given us this huge responsibility. Lord, bless us to fulfill this responsibility well," Mr Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool, in a big setback, have been downgraded to the status of regional parties. The CPI too was assigned regional party status.
A national party tag allows an organisation to get a common poll symbol across the country, more star campaigners, free airtime on national broadcasters for election campaigns and, by convention, office space in Delhi.
For a political party to be labelled a national party, it has to be a recognised state party in four or more states (or) must have 2% seats in Lok Sabha, according to the rules.
Once a party loses national party status, it cannot get a common symbol for its candidates in states where it's not recognised.
For example, Trinamool candidates will not get its symbol in Karnataka if it chooses to contest elections in the state.
In India's multi-party system, there are six national parties after today's restructuring - the Congress, BJP, CPI(M), Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, the National People's Party (NPP) and the latest entrant, AAP.
"All of us at AAP are thrilled at this good news. I congratulate every single worker of AAP who worked tirelessly through the last decade to make AAP a success. Under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, AAP is India's fastest growing political start-up," AAP MP Raghav Chadha told NDTV minutes after the news broke.
"Despite all odds, despite every single trick in the book to eliminate AAP from the national political space, AAP is going strength-to-strength," he added.
Last week, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said that getting the status of a national party will boost the party in the upcoming Karnataka election. AAP is contesting all 224 seats in Karnataka, which votes on May 10.
The poll body has also revoked the state party status granted to RLD in Uttar Pradesh, BRS in Andhra Pradesh, PDA in Manipur, PMK in Puducherry, RSP in West Bengal and MPC in Mizoram.