List of political parties in India
The Constitution of India stipulates that India be a federal polity with a central government in New Delhi, and state governments for the various states and Union territories. Consequently, political parties in India are classified as national and state (regional) parties based on their realms of influence.
National parties
National parties are those that are recognized in four or more states. They are accorded this status by the Election Commission, which periodically reviews the election results in various states. This recognition helps the political parties to claim unique ownership of certain identities like the party symbol till the next review of their status.
- Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP)
- Communist Party of India
- Communist Party of India - Marxist
- Indian National Congress (led the freedom movement, but later fragmented into many other political parties)
- Janata Dal
- Samata Party
- National Congress Party or NCP - (created by ex-Congressmen dismissed from party for raising the issue of foreign nationality of Sonia Gandhi)
State parties
Although many parties have terms like "national" or "All India" as part of their name, very few are actually national parties. The rest are state parties and can best be described as "wannabes".
The English translation of vernacular names are enclosed in paranthesis. It is to be note however, that these parties seldom use the English names.
- All India Forward Bloc (West Bengal)
- All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK, "All-India Anna Federation for Progress of Dravidians") (Tamil Nadu)
- Akali Dal (Party of Akal - The elderly clique of Sikhs) (Punjab)
- Asom Gana Parishad ("Assam People's Federation") Assam)
- Bahujan Samaj Party (Majority Society Party) (Uttar Pradesh)
- Bihar Peoples Party (Bihar)
- Biju Janata Dal (Orissa)
- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK, "Federation for Progress of Dravidians") (Tamil Nadu)
- Himachal Vikas Congress ("Himachal Welfare Congress")(Himachal Pradesh)
- Indian National League (Kerala)
- Indian National Lok Dal ("Indian National People's Party")(Haryana)
- Janata Dal (Secular) (Karnataka)
- Janata Dal United Party (Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Nagaland)
- Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha (JMM) ("Movement for Jharkhand Autonomy")(Jharkhand)
- Justice Party(Tamil Nadu)
- Kerala Congress (Mani faction) (Kerala)
- Muslim League (Kerala)
- National Conference (Jammu and Kashmir)
- People's Democratic Party (Jammu and Kashmir)
- Revolutionary Socialist Party
- Rashtriya Janata Dal("National Public Party")(Bihar,Jharkhand)
- Rashtriya Lok Dal ("National People's Party") (Uttar Pradesh)
- Samajwadi Party ("Socialist Party") (Uttar Pradesh)
- Telugu Desam ("Telugu land") (Andhra Pradesh)
- Trinamool Congress ("Grassroot Congress") (West Bengal)
- Shiv Sena ("Shiv's army") (Maharashtra)
Unknown
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Coalitions
Since 1990, the Indian electorate has consistently thrown fragmented verdicts both at the state and national levels. This has led parties with minimal (and sometimes considerable) ideological differences to come together as a loose federation of parties to stake claim for power. The following are coalitions of political parties in India.
- National Democratic Alliance - headed by the BJP.
Common Terms
The following Hindi terms may be useful in understanding the names of Indian political parties:
- Bharatiya - Indian
- Rashtriya - National
- Janata, Lok - People
- Dal, Parishad - Party
See also: List of political parties, Politics of India