Kolkata, Apr 20 (PTI) Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday said losing the national party status won't halt its expansion plans outside West Bengal.

Banerjee, who reiterated the TMC's stand of mulling legal options, wondered whether the national party status was revoked as it was vocal against the "misrule" of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

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The Election Commission withdrew the national party tag of the TMC, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) last week.

"We are mulling legal options regarding the decision of the Election Commission. But what is absurd is that a party like CPI(M), which has just eight MPs in Parliament, including three in Lok Sabha, is a national party, and the TMC, which has 23 Lok Sabha MPs and 12 Rajya Sabha MPs, is not a national party," he said while addressing a press conference here.

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According to the EC order, the Aam Aadmi Party was recognised as a national party.

The country now has six national parties – BJP, Congress, BSP, CPI (M), NPP and AAP.

"In Meghalaya, we got around 14 per cent votes and five seats. The BJP, which has been there for several years, got just two seats and around nine per cent votes. So should they also give up national party status? Our party was most vocal against the misrule of the BJP at the Centre, and maybe, that is why the status has been revoked," Banerjee, the TMC's national general secretary, said.

When asked whether the EC's decision to withdraw the national party tag would hamper the TMC's expansion plans, Banerjee said, "It won't have any impact (on our expansion plans)".

On Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said that her party's name would remain the 'All India Trinamool Congress'.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said he has written to the Election Commission to take cognisance of the matter that the Trinamool Congress is still using "All India" with its name.

"It is tough for the TMC to digest that they are no longer a national party. I have written to the Election Commission to take cognisance of the matter that the Trinamool is still using All India with its name," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)