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New Delhi: The Election Commission has decided that political parties in states getting more than 8 percent of total votes polled, irrespective of the number of seats they get, will henceforth be recognised by it. Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said EC has changed its guidelines for recognition of state political parties following representations from across the country."We had received various representations that sometimes a party even after getting over eight to 10 percent of votes did not get recognition just because they did not win any seat. Instead of six percent, now it has been decided that it will be eight percent irrespective of the number of seats a party gets," said Quraishi. He said that "after all, eight percent of popular vote is a sizeable vote and that cannot be ignored."EC will now give recognition to political parties on the basis of total number of votes polled and not on the number of seats it gets. "It is basically a simplification of the procedure," said the CEC. Earlier, as per EC guidelines, a political party in a state gets recognised after getting six percent votes and in addition after winning some seats.
