The Election Commission has decided that political parties in states getting more than 8 per cent 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 ten per cent of votes did not get recognition just because they did not win any seat. Instead of six per cent,now it has been decided that it will be eight per cent irrespective of the number of seats a party gets," said Quraishi. He said that "after all,eight per cent 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 per cent votes and in addition after winning some seats.
