. National parties are some countrywide parties and almost follow similar policies and programmes at the national level. . Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission. The Commission offers some special facilities to the large and established parties. These parties are given a unique symbol—only the official candidates of that party can use that election symbol. . Parties that get this privilege and some other special facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission for this purpose. That is why these parties are called ‘Recognised Political Parties’. . The Election Commission has laid down detailed criteria of the proportion of votes and seats that a party must get in order to be a recognised party.