List of political parties in India

India has a multi-party system with recognition accorded to national and state and District level
parties. The status is reviewed periodically by the Election Commission of India. Other political
parties that wish to contest local, state or national elections are required to be registered by
the Election Commission of India (ECI). Registered parties are upgraded as recognized national or
state level parties based upon objective criteria. A recognized party enjoys privileges like reserved
party symbol,[A] free broadcast time on state run television and radio, consultation in setting of
election dates and giving inputs in setting electoral rules and regulations.

Recognised national parties as of 2 September 2016[2][6][7] arranged alphabetically

No
.

Name

Abbreviatio
n

Foundatio
n
year

Current leader(s)[D]

All India Trinamool Congress

AITC

1998

Mamata Banerjee

Bahujan Samaj Party

BSP

1984

Mayawati

Bharatiya Janata Party

BJP

1980

Amit Shah

Communist Party of India

CPI

1925

Suravaram Sudhakar
Reddy[E]

Communist Party of India

(Marxist)

CPI-M

1964

Sitaram Yechury

Indian National Congress

INC

1885

Sonia Gandhi

Nationalist Congress Party

NCP

1999

Sharad Pawar

Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy

General Secretary of the Communist Party

of India

Incumbent

Assumed office
31 March 2012

Preceded by Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan

Member of Parliament
for Nalgonda

In office
20042009

Preceded

Gutha Sukender Reddy