RJD may lose national status
Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal may lose its national party status following its poor show in last year’s Jharkhand Assembly polls, ahead of the Bihar elections in October this year.
The Election Commission will hear the case on July 2 to decide on the issue.
Following the RJD performance in the Jharkhand polls, the EC had served a notice to Mr Lalu Yadav asking him why the national party status given to his party should not be withdrawn.
The RJD has been out of power in Bihar for the past five years and over an year at the Centre as the party fought the 2009 general elections together with the Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP, after both parted ways with the Congress.
The RJD was earlier recognised as a national party following its poll performance in Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland.
A party which is recognised as a state party in four or more states could be declared a national party, provided it keeps up that position in subsequent general election to the Lok Sabha or the Assembly.
Though the Rashtriya Janata Dal got five seats in Jharkhand polls last year, it could not secure the minimum six per cent of the total valid votes polled, as required to retain the state party status.
Incidentally, Jharkhand has been carved out of Bihar which was led by Mr Lalu Yadav for nearly 15 years till the last Assembly polls in 2005 when the JD(U)-BJP coalition came to power, bringing Mr Nitish Kumar as the chief minister.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal has been in decline since then and had secured only four seats in the last Lok Sabha polls as against its tally of 24 seats in the 14th Lok Sabha where it was the second largest party in UPA-I after Congress.
At present, the Rashtriya Janata Dal is out of the UPA-2 though it provides outside support to the Congress-led coalition.
Post new comment