PANAJI, 9 April: The Election Commission (EC) has given ‘State Party' recognition to the Goa Vikas Party (GVP) in Goa, in view of its performance in the recent Assembly Election.

It has also given State Party status to the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in Manipur, as well as to the Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) in Manipur.

The Trinamool Congress – led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – had lost its ‘State Party’ recognition in Meghalaya in 2010, following its poor performance. It now has recognition in three States – West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur – and is short of recognition in just one state to get the ‘National Party’ recognition. As per EC rules, a party can be declared a ‘National Party’ if it has recognition as ‘State Party’ in four or more states.

In the recent election in Manipur, the Trinamool won seven out of 60 Assembly seats and also got the recognition as the main Opposition party, getting 18 per cent of the total votes polled. EC sources said the Commission would be writing letters individually to the three parties.

A party gets ‘state’ recognition, if it secures at least one seat for every 25 Lok Sabha seat from that State or one Assembly seat for every 30 seats of the Assembly or six per cent of the total votes polled in the general election to the Lok Sabha/Assembly in that state.