The Election Commission of India (ECI) has granted "national party" status to the National People's Party (NPP) on Friday. Conrad Sangma-led NPP has fulfilled the required criteria to qualify as a "national party" after winning five seats in the recently held Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
Reacting to the development, Sangma tweeted, "Therecognition of #NPP as National Party status will surely motivate each memberof the family of NPP and will further enable us to work for the greater causeof the region and its people."
"It is not just an achievement for NPP but for thepeople of Northeast for their overwhelming support and thrust bestowed on theparty," Sangma further tweeted.
The NPP was founded by former Lok Sabha speaker PurnoAgitok Sangam in January 2013 and presently is a partner in the ruling NDA inthe Centre. The veteran Garo leader and the tallest parliamentarian fromnortheast had floated the party after his expulsion from the National CongressParty (NCP). The NPP had contested the assembly election in Rajasthan inDecember 2013 immediately after its birth under the leadership of Kirodi LalMeena and had won four seats.
NPP is the single largest political party in Meghalaya and has 21 members in the 60-member house. The part has four MLAs in Manipur and Y Joykumar Singh is the Deputy Chief Minister of the state and it is also recognized as a state party in Nagaland.
Recognition as a national party ensures that the election symbol of that party is not used by any other political entity across India. The party's election symbol is the book. Besides, the national parties are allocated land or buildings from the government to set up their party offices in New Delhi.
