Janasena Registered, Next Target Recognition

The Election Commission on Thursday officially registered Power Star Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena as a political party under the section 29A of the Representation of People Act 1951. This is an interesting development for the party. Meanwhile, there is a sort of confusion between the words 'Registered' and 'Recognized'. Janasena, though, got registered by the EC, it is yet get recognized as per following norms.

The political parties have to fulfil certain criteria before they gain recognition, either as a state party or as a national party. The criteria for recognition are: either that the party has been conducting its activities for a continuous period of five years, or that the party has got at least 4% of the votes polled in elections to the state assembly or the Lok Sabha in a particular state. Incidentally, for computing this vote share, votes polled by a party in seats where it has forfeited its deposit are not taken into account. This is to discourage the practice of parties putting up non-serious candidates all over the state merely to meet the 4% cut-off. A party that meets the 4% criterion in a particular state is recognised as a 'state party' in that state. To gain recognition as a national party, a party must be recognised as a state party in at least four states. Recognition is not a permanent thing. Parties that have once been recognised can be de-recognised, if they fail to meet the relevant criterion in subsequent elections. The political parties, which get recognition get a common symbol for permanent use.