Trinamool To File Appeal With Poll Body Over Loss Of National Party Status

A day after losing the national party status, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday questioned the impartiality of the Election Commission and wondered whether other parties, apart from Congress and BJP, accorded the coveted tag fulfil all the laid down rules.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party is also exploring legal options to challenge the decision of the EC.

Mocking the ruling party of West Bengal, the BJP said it should remove 'All India' from its official name 'All India Trinamool Congress'. The state Congress also termed the TMC as a 'spent force' at the national level.

The EC withdrew the national party status of the TMC, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Monday. The country now has six national parties - BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), CPI(M), National People's Party (NPP) and AAP.

"We are exploring legal options as we are not on the same page with the EC's decision. It was not an impartial decision. We would request the Election Commission to come out with a statement that all those accorded national status fulfil all the laid down criteria," TMC state vice-president Jaiprakash Majumdar said.

Another TMC leader said it has to be seen if all the other parties, except the Congress and the BJP, fulfilled all rules to be granted the coveted status.

The opposition BJP mocked the TMC following the development.

"The EC should not allow the TMC to use 'All India' in its name. In the next few years, they will be reduced to a party without any symbol. No one can become a national party forcibly and by spending money," BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said.

Congress state president Adhir Chowdhury said the dreams of the TMC to emerge as a replacement for the grand old party on the national stage are now shattered.

"The TMC expanded in West Bengal at the cost of the Congress. It then dreamed of expanding its base outside Bengal by poaching Congress leaders. But now, with the national party status gone, the TMC is a spent force at the national level," he said.

In various states such as Goa and Meghalaya, Congress leaders had joined the TMC, especially ahead of elections.

The TMC was formed on January 1, 1998, after Mamata Banerjee left Congress to form her own political party.

After two unsuccessful attempts in 2001 and 2006, the party came to power by defeating the Left Front in 2011, riding the crest of massive public outrage against the communists.

The Trinamool Congress received the national party tag in 2016, but its dismal show in Goa and some northeastern states has led to the withdrawal of the status.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)