LS polls a litmus test for DMDK to retain its ECI recognition

Vijayakant’s DMDK is one of the three parties in the state recognised by the Election Commission of India (ECI), along with the DMK and the AIADMK, with the permanent party symbol ‘Nagara’.

However, DMDK due to its dismal run in the previous two elections, one in 2014 Parliament election and another in 2016 state assembly election, the party is on the verge of losing its recognition if it fails to fulfil the criteria laid by ECI.

ECI lays four criteria for parties to qualify themselves to be a state party and the parties should fulfil either of the four criteria.

The first criterion for the party is that the “party should win at least three seats or three per cent of the seats in the state legislative Assembly”. DMDK failed to fulfil the first criteria as it did not win a single seat in the assembly election conducted in 2016.

The second criteria fixed by ECI is that the “party has to win minimum one seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction allotted to that concerned state”. DMDK failed to fulfil the second criterion too as it did not win a single seat in the previous Parliament election conducted in 2014.

The third criteria fixed by ECI is that the “party in a particular election has to bag at least six per cent of the total votes and also win one Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats”. The third criterion was also not fulfilled by DMDK as the party bagged just 2.41 percentage votes in 2016 state assembly election and the party neither won any assembly seat nor any Lok Sabha seat.

The fourth criteria fixed by ECI is that the “status of a state party can still be bestowed upon an entity even if it fails to win any seats in the Lok Sabha or the Assembly, if it manages to win at least eight per cent of the total votes cast in the entire state”. The fourth criterion too was not fulfilled as DMDK managed to bag just 2.41 percentage of votes in the previous assembly election.

As DMDK is desperate to retain its recognition and party symbol, it has choices limited, either it has to align with DMK or AIADMK in the upcoming Parliamentary election to maintain its party symbol.