Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal is facing a different challenge ahead of the assembly polls in Bihar due by October-November this year.
The party, which has a lantern for its symbol, may lose its national party status following its poor show in last year's Jharkhand assembly polls.
Election Commission has fixed a hearing on July two to decide on the issue.
Following the RJD performance in the polls, the EC had served a notice to Lalu Prasad asking him why the national party status given to his party should not be withdrawn.
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 general elections along with Ramvilas Paswan-led LJP, after parting ways with the Congress.
A party, which is recognised as a 'state party' in four or more states, would be declared a 'national party', provided it keeps up that position in subsequent general election to the Lok Sabha or the assembly.
The RJD was earlier recognised as a 'national party' following its poll performance in Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland.
Though the RJD got 5 seats in Jharkhand 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 that was led by Lalu Prasad for nearly 15 years till the last assembly polls in 2005 when the JD-U-BJP coalition came to power, bringing Nitish Kumar as the chief minister.
The RJD 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.
Now RJD is out of the UPA-II though it provides outside support to the Congress-led coalition.
