The Communist Party of India (CPI), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have urged the Election Commission of India (EC) not to take away their national party status seeking a fresh opportunity to improve their electoral performance.

The three parties put their point across the commission saying their status should not be based on recent electoral performance only as they are old parties and have played a key role in national politics.

Earlier, responding to a show-cause notice, the three had told the poll panel that their national party status should not be revoked based on their performance in the Lok Sabha elections this year.

The Commission has clarified that the hearing was only a partial one and the parties will be called back again for deliberations.

The NCP asked the Election Commission to wait till the Assembly polls to be held in Maharashtra in October before passing any order in this connection. “This is a time of flux. If NCP could not perform well in 2014 in Maharashtra doesn’t mean that the NCP can’t bounce back in 2019. In all fairness, we should be allowed to test our strength in the upcoming Assembly elections in October and then they can decide on the issue,” NCP’s Majeed Memon said.

The Election Commission had earlier issued them notices asking why their ”national party” status should not be revoked following their performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

The CPI has said that after the Congress, it is the oldest party in the country which had been the principal opposition party in the lower house of the parliament.

The Left party said though it may not have fared well in the recent Lok Sabha elections, it has been in power in several states and has played a key role in strengthening the Constitution.

The TMC is learnt to have argued that it was given national party status in 2014 and it should be allowed to continue with it at least till 2024.