India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

has a

multi-party system In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in ...

. The

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, dir ...

(ECI) accords recognition to the national level and the state level political parties based upon objective criteria. A recognised political party enjoys privileges like a reserved party symbol, free broadcast time on state-run television and radio, consultation in the setting of election dates, and giving input in setting electoral rules and regulations. Other political parties that wish to contest local, state or national elections are required to be registered by the Election Commission of India. Registered Parties are upgraded as recognised National Party or State Party by the ECI if they meet the relevant criteria after a

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

or State legislative assembly election. The Recognised Party status is reviewed periodically by the ECI. Before the amendment in 2016 (came into force with effect from 1 January 2014), if a political party failed to fulfill the criteria in the subsequent Lok Sabha or state legislative assembly election, they lost their status as a recognised Party. In 2016, the ECI announced that such a review would take place after two consecutive elections instead of every election. Therefore, a political party shall retain the recognised Party status even if they do not meet the criteria in the next election. However, if they fail to meet the criteria in the subsequent election following the next election, they would lose their status. As per latest publication dated 23 September 2021 from Election Commission of India, the total number of parties registered was 2858, with 9 national parties, 54 state parties and 2796 unrecognised parties. All registered parties contesting elections need to choose a symbol from a list of available symbols offered by the EC. All 28 states of the country along with the union territories of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

National Capital Territory of Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

and Puducherry have elected governments unless

President's rule In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...

is imposed under certain conditions.

National parties

A registered party is recognised as a national party only if it fulfils any one of the three conditions listed below: * The party win 2% of seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three different states. * At a general election to Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly, the party polls 6% of votes in any four or more states and in addition it wins four Lok Sabha seats. * The party gets recognition as a state party in four states.

State parties

A registered party is recognised as a state party only if it fulfils any one of the five conditions listed below: * A party should secure at least 6% of valid votes polled in an election to the state legislative assembly and win at least 2 seats in that state assembly. * A party should secure at least 6% of valid votes polled in an election to Lok Sabha and win at least 1 seat in Lok Sabha. * A party should win at least 3% of the total number of seats or a minimum of three seats in the Legislative Assembly, which ever is higher. * A party should win at least one seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction thereof allotted to that State. * Under the liberalised criteria, one more clause that it will be eligible for recognition as state party if it secures 8% or more of the total valid votes polled in the state.

Unrecognised parties

Notes

References

Praty State and State Presidents List

National parties

State parties

Unrecognised parties

See also

Notes

References

Further reading