National Parties in India: List of All the Political Parties 2023

List of All the Political Parties in India 2023: India has a multi-party system. As of 2023, India has six national parties, over 56 recognised state parties, and 2796 unrecognised parties.

If a political party fulfils certain objectives, it is recognised as a national or state political party by the Election Commission of India (ECI). A party recognised by the ECI enjoys certain privileges such as a reserved party symbol, free broadcast time on state-run television and radio, consultation in the setting of election dates, and more. 

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National Political Party:

A registered party is recognised as a National Party only if it fulfils any one of the following three conditions:

1. If a party wins 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha (as of 2014, 11 seats) from at least 3 different States. 

2. At a General Election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly, the party polls 6% of votes in four States in addition to 4 Lok Sabha seats. 

3. A party is recognised as a State Party in four or more States.

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List of all the National Parties in India

Source: Election Commission of India

On 10th April 2023, the Election Commission of India (ECI) revoked the national party status of three former national parties- the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Communist Party of India (CPI).  Subsequently, the ECI recognised Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a national party.  

Before this, India had eight national parties, but now it has six.

State Political Party:

A registered party has to fulfil any of the following conditions to be known as the State Political Party:

1. A party should win a minimum of 3% of the total seats or 3 seats in the Legislative Assembly. 

2. A party should win at least 1 seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction thereof allotted to that State.

3. A political party should secure at least 6% of the total valid votes polled during the general election to a Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assembly and should, in addition, win at least 1 Lok Sabha, and 2 Legislative Assembly seats in that election. 

4. Under the liberalized criteria, one more clause has been added to provide that even if a Party fails to win any seat in a State in a general election to the Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly of the State, the party will still be eligible for recognition as State Party if it secures 8% or more of the total valid votes polled in the State.

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List of all the State Parties in India (Recognised & Unrecognised)

Here is the list of political parties in India: 

Source: Election Commission of India

A political party is a group of people who share similar political views, come together to contest elections and try to hold power in the government. The members of the political parties agree on some policies and programmes for society intending to promote the collective good.

Political parties that wish to contest local, state or national elections are required to be registered with the Election Commission of India (EC). The number/status of national, state and regional parties increases or decreases based on their performance in the elections.

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