Complete List of Important Political Parties in India India is the largest democracy in the world and therefore its political system is made of multitude of factions and political parties. While some of these parties rooted from the Independence Struggle, some others were born to revolutionize the new age India and free it from the shackles of Corruption. At the same time, some of the currently more powerful and politically strong parties raised when the country was going through a state of emergency! So let's take a look at the chronology, relevance and importance of the many political parties that India saw arise and fall. Here is the list of Political Parties in India along with their history and prominent leaders to boost your preparation of General Awareness section for various banking, SSC, Railway & Government Exams. But before we start with the Political System of India, you should know a few terms associated with politics. Political Party - Why is it Formed? Definition - A political party is a group of people, with similar political aim , coming together to contest election. Now let’s delve into the types of Indian Political Parties one by one.All parties that desire to contest elections in India have to register themselves with the Election Commission of India or ECI. Generally, in a political party, you will find that all party members have a common goal. Such goals are listed down in a political manifesto. List of Political Parties in India 1 | P a g e In India, there are mainly 3 types of political parties – 1. National Parties 2. State Recognized Parties 3. Unrecognized Parties 1) Types of Political Parties in India - National Parties What is a National Political Party? A registered party is taken in as a National Party only when it fulfills any of the following conditions: • If the party wins 2% of Lok Sabha seats from at least three different states in India • If the party is recognized as a state party in four or more states in India • If the party polls 6% of votes in 4 states in addition to four seats in the Lok Sabha, at the general election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly. There are 7 National Parties in India. Have a look a the list of these parties along with their year of foundation. Foundation S.No. Name of Party Abbreviation year 1. Bharatiya Janata Party BJP 1980 2 | P a g e 2. Indian National Congress INC 1885 3. Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI-M 1964 4. Communist Party of India CPI 1925 5. Bahujan Samaj Party BSP 1984 6. Nationalist Congress Party NCP 1999 7. All India Trinamool Congress AITC 1998 Given below is the list of the National Political Parties and their leaders. S.No. Name of Party Leader 1. Bharatiya Janata Party Amit Shah 2. Indian National Congress Rahul Gandhi 3. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury 4. Communist Party of India Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy 5. Bahujan Samaj Party Mayawati Prabhu Das 6. Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar 7. All India Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee 3 | P a g e 2) Types of Political Parties in India - State Recognized Parties What is a State Political Party? To be called as a State Political Party, a political party needs to fulfill any of the following conditions • The political party needs to win a minimum of 3% of the total number of seats in the legislative assembly • For every 25 seats in the Lok Sabha, the political party must win at least one seat. Alternatively, it needs to win any fraction there of allotted to that State. • The political party should win at least 6% of the total valid votes that are polled during the general election towards the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly. And, in addition, it should win at least one Lok Sabha seat and two Legislative Assembly seats in that particular election. • As per the liberalized criteria, if a political party fails to win a seat in the State general elections to the Legislative Assembly of the State or the Lok Sabha, then, it needs to secure 8% or more of the total valid votes polled in the State. There are 49 State Recognized Parties in India. Here is a list of all those political parties. Foundation S.No. Name Abbreviation States/UT Year 1. Aam Aadmi Party AAP 2012 Delhi, Punjab 2. All India Anna Dravida AIADMK 1972 Puducherry, Tamil 4 | P a g e Munnetra Kazhagam Nadu 3. All India Forward Bloc AIFB 1939 West Bengal All India Majlis-e- 4. AIMIM 1927 Telangana Ittehadul Muslimeen 5. All India N.R. Congress AINRC 2011 Puducherry All India United 6. AIUDF 2004 Assam Democratic Front All Jharkhand Students 7. AJSU 1986 Jharkhand Union 8. Asom Gana Parishad AGP 1985 Assam 9. Biju Janata Dal BJD 1997 Odisha 10. Bodoland People's Front BPF 1985 Assam Desiya Murpokku 11. DMDK 2005 Tamil Nadu Dravidar Kazhagam Dravida Munnetra Puducherry, Tamil 12. DMK 1949 Kazhagam Nadu Haryana Janhit Congress 13. HJC(BL) 2007 Haryana (BL) Hill State People's 14. HSPDP 1968 Meghalaya Democratic Party 5 | P a g e 15. Indian National Lok Dal INLD 1999 Haryana Indian Union Muslim 16. IUML 1948 Kerala League Jammu & Kashmir 17. JKNC 1932 Jammu & Kashmir National Conference Jammu & Kashmir 18. JKNPP 1982 Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party Jammu and Kashmir 19. People's Democratic JKPDP 1998 Jammu & Kashmir Party 20. Janata Dal (Secular) JD (S) 1999 Karnataka, Kerala 21. Janata Dal (United) JD (U) 1999 Bihar 22. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM 1972 Jharkhand Jharkhand Vikas Morcha 23. JVM(P) 2006 Jharkhand (Prajatantrik) 24. Kerala Congress (M) KC(M) 1979 Kerala 25. Lok Janshakti Party LJP 2000 Bihar Maharashtra Navnirman 26. MNS 2006 Maharashtra Sena 27. Maharashtrawadi MGP 1963 Goa 6 | P a g e Gomantak Party Manipur State Congress 28. MSCP 1997 Manipur Party 29. Mizo National Front MNF 1959 Mizoram Mizoram People's 30. MPC 1972 Mizoram Conference 31. Naga People's Front NPF 2002 Manipur, Nagaland 32. National People's Party NPP 2013 Meghalaya Puducherry, Tamil 33. Pattali Makkal Katchi PMK 1989 Nadu People's Party of 34. PPA 1987 Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal 35. Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD 1997 Bihar, Jharkhand 36. Rashtriya Lok Dal RLD 1996 Uttar Pradesh Rashtriya Lok Samta 37. RLSP 2013 Bihar Party Revolutionary Socialist 38. RSP 1940 Kerala, West Bengal Party 39. Samajwadi Party SP 1992 Uttar Pradesh 7 | P a g e 40. Shiromani Akali Dal SAD 1920 Punjab 41. Shiv Sena SS 1966 Maharashtra 42. Sikkim Democratic Front SDF 1993 Sikkim Sikkim Krantikari 43. SKM 2013 Sikkim Morcha Telangana Rashtra 44. TRS 2001 Telangana Samithi Andhra 45. Telugu Desam Party TDP 1982 Pradesh, Telangana 46. United Democratic Party UDP 1972 Meghalaya Andhra 47. YSR Congress Party YSRCP 2011 Pradesh, Telangana Samajwadi Janata Party 48. SJP 1990 Uttar Pradesh (Rashtriya) All India Public Freedom 49 AIPFP 2016 Tamil Nadu Party 3) Types of Political Parties in India - Unrecognized Parties 8 | P a g e What is an Unrecognized Party? • An Unrecognized Political Party is the one who do not have the privilege of contesting the elections on a symbol of its own. • This[party have to choose one symbol out of the list of ‘free symbols’ issued by the poll panel. There are more than hundred Unrecognized Political Parties in India, some of them are enlisted below: S. Foundation Name Abbreviation States No. Year Bhartiya Gramin Samaj 1 BGSP 2015 Madhya Pradesh Party 2 Amra Bangali AMB 1983 West Bengal Bhartiya Minorities 3 BMSM 1994 Maharashtra Suraksha Mahasangh 4 Hindustani Awam Morcha HAM 2015 Bihar 5 Indhiya Jananayaga Party IJK 2010 Tamil Nadu 6 Indian Bold Citizen Party IBCP 2016 Kerala 7 Jan Samaikyanshra Party JSP 2014 Andhra Pradesh Jan Adhikar Party 8 JAP 2015 Bihar Loktantrik 9 | P a g e Andhra Pradesh, 9 Jana Sena Party JSP 2014 Telangana 10 Kerala Congress (Jacob) KCJ 1991 Kerala 11 Kerala (B) KCB 1989 Kerala Kongynadu Makkal Desia 12 KMDK 2001 Tamil Nadu Katchi Namathu Kongu Munnetra 13 MKMK 2016 Tamil Nadu Kalagam 14 Kisan Party of India KPI 2014 Bihar Andhra Pradesh, 15 Lok Satta Party LSP 2006 Telangana 16 Manipur Peoples Party MPP 1968 Manipur 17 Manithaneya Makkal Katchi MMK 2009 Tamil Nadu Marumalarchi Dravida 18 MDMK 1992 Tamil Nadu Munnetra Kazhgam 19 Janta Dal JD 2017 Bihar, Jharkhand 20 Odisha Janmorcha OJM 2013 Odisha 21 Param Digvijay Dal PDD 2014 Uttar Pradesh 22 Peace Party of India PPI 2008 Uttar Pradesh 10 | P a g e 23 Puthiya Tamilagam PTK 1996 Tamil Nadu 24 Rashtriya Samaj Paksha RSP 2003 Maharashtra 25 Rashtriya Ulama Council RUC 2008 Uttar Pradesh Rashtriya Parirakshana 26 RPS 2013 Andhra Samiti Delhi, UP, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Social Democratic Party of Bihar, Madhya 27 SDPI 2009 India Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa, Tamil Nadu Hope this article was useful to know about the political parties in India. 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