A registered party is recognized as a National Party only if it fulfills any one of the following three conditions:
The party wins 2 percent of the seats in the Lok Sabha (as of 2014, 11 seats) from at least 3 different States; or
At a General Election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly, the party polls 6% of votes in four States and in addition, it wins 4 Lok Sabha seats from any state or states; or
A party gets recognition as State Party in four or more States.
Parties recognized as such are given unique symbols that only the official candidates of that party can use.
The parties that get these privileges and some other special facilities are recognized by the Election Commission of India for this purpose.