Smaller parties flock to Election Commission for registration

According to highly placed EC sources, six regional parties from Tamil Nadu have registered with them seeking recognition including the Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM) of actor-turned politician Kamal Hassan in the past five months.

Besides MNM, Naam Indiar Party (Thoothukudi), All India MGR Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, (Chennai), Marumalarchi Janatha Katchi (Chennai) and All India Makkal Nalvalu Katchi (Dindigul) are other recently registered non- recognised parties. And now with Lok Sabha polls approaching one more party from Villupuram have filed forms seeking registration last month, sources said.

“Usually two to three parties apply every year and whenever the state is scheduled to undergo Assembly polls, there is a spurt in registration but this year close to eight applications have landed in the EC from TN,” a senior public election department official toldDT Next.

As on date, there are three registered parties (AIADMK, DMK and DMDK) and around 130 registered non-recognised parties in the state, the official said.

And now with talks making rounds that actors Rajnikanth and Vishal may also float parties, we are expecting a few more applications cleared by the EC in the days to come, the official said.

According to chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo, the applications are usually processed by the EC. The state public relations department assists, when the EC demands. There are EC’s guidelines to be followed by every registered political party and whenever the rules are not adhered the parties lose their recognition, the CEO added.

Though the number of political parties in the state has surged over the years, political commentator A Marx sees the current trend as some namesake registrations. Though Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi are no more, only serious political players or actors like Rajini or Kamal can make some electoral impact, otherwise, new political parties will come and go, Marx added.

According to 2007 Tamil Nadu government notification, there were four recognised parties in the state, including the MDMK and PMK, but these parties due to the dip in electoral vote percentage are not able to maintain the status of recognised registered parties. And now with elections around the corner and more parties to jump in to fray possibilities are there for weak regional parties to lose their recognition. In 2011 Assembly polls, 16 parties from the state participated and 13 parties which failed to secure 6 per cent of the valid votes lost their qualification to be a recognised party.