Editing Politics of India (section)

=== Political Parties in India ===
When compared to other democracies, India has had a large number of political parties during its history under democratic governance. It has been estimated that over 200 parties were formed after India became independent in 1947.As per latest publications dated 23 March 2024 from Election Commission of India, and subsequent notifications, there are 6 national parties, 57 state parties, and 2,764 registered unrecognized parties. All registered parties contesting elections need to choose a symbol from a list of available symbols offered by the EC.

==== Types of political parties ====
{{Main|List of political parties in India}}
Every political party in India, whether a national or regional/state party, must have a symbol and must be registered with the 
[[Election Commission of India]]. Symbols are used in the Indian political system to identify political parties in part so that illiterate people can vote by recognizing the party symbols.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thediplomat.com/2016/11/the-curioudifaidfefiwuufs-stories-of-indian-party-symbols/|title=The Curious Stories of Indian Party Symbols|work=[[The Diplomat (magazine)|The Diplomat]]|author=Krzysztof Iwanek|date=2 November 2016|access-date=19 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419193824/https://thediplomat.com/2016/11/the-curious-stories-of-indian-party-symbols/|archive-date=19 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the current amendment to the Symbols Order, the commission has asserted the following five principles:<ref name=ECI />
# A party, national or state, must have a legislative presence.
# A national party's legislative presence must be in the Lok Sabha. A state party's legislative presence must be in the State Assembly.
# A party can set up a candidate only from amongst its own members.
# A party that loses its recognition shall not lose its symbol immediately but shall be allowed to use that symbol for some time to try and retrieve its status. However, the grant of such facility to the party will not mean the extension of other facilities to it, as are available to recognized parties, such as free time on [[Doordarshan]] or [[All India Radio|AIR]], free supply of copies of electoral rolls, etc.
# Recognition should be given to a party only on the basis of its own performance in elections and not because it is a splinter group of some other recognized party.

===== National Political Party =====
A political party shall be eligible to be recognized as a national party if:<ref name="ECI">{{cite web|title=Election Commission of India Press Note|url=http://eci.nic.in/archive/press/current/PN05122k.htm|access-date=13 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305090629/http://eci.nic.in/archive/press/current/PN05122k.htm|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
# it secures at least six percent (6%) of the valid votes polled in any four or more states, at a general election to the Lok Sabha or, to the State Legislative Assembly; and .
# in addition, it wins at least four seats in the House of the People from any State or States.
# or it wins at least two percent (2%) seats in the House of the People (i.e. 11 seats in the existing House having 543 members), and these members are elected from at least three different states.
Six national political parties are - [[Bharatiya Janata Party|Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)]], [[Indian National Congress|Indian National Congress (INC)]], [[Bahujan Samaj Party|Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)]], [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|Communist Party of lndia (Marxist) (CPI-M)]], [[Aam Aadmi Party|Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)]] and [[National People's Party (India)|National People's Party (NPP)]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Election Commission of India |date=26 March 2024 |title=Commission's Main Notification dated 26.03.24 containing list of National Parties, their Symbols and addresses |url=https://www.eci.gov.in/eci-backend/public/api/download?url=LMAhAK6sOPBp%2FNFF0iRfXbEB1EVSLT41NNLRjYNJJP1KivrUxbfqkDatmHy12e%2FzBiU51zPFZI5qMtjV1qgjFva%2BcZe4H5hLgRzEPbXgT4%2BLdDuMCbYQSF1jiuqiCO2KgKdCmUSHqA1uyd%2BQgGswdQ%3D%3D}}</ref>

===== State Political Party =====
A political party shall be entitled to be recognized as a state party, if:
# it secures at least six percent (6%) of the valid votes polled in the state at a general election, either to the Lok Sabha or to the Legislative Assembly of the State concerned; and
# in addition, it wins at least two seats in the Legislative Assembly of the state concerned.
# or it wins at least three percent (3%) of the total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the state, or at least three seats in the Assembly, whichever is more.

===== Registered Unrecognized Political Party (RUPP) =====
Registered unrecognized political parties are those parties which are either newly registered or which have not secured enough percentage of votes in the assembly or general elections to become a state party or those which have never contested elections since being registered. Registered but unrecognized political parties don’t enjoy all the benefits extended to the recognized parties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UPSC Notes on Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP) |url=https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/registered-unrecognised-political-parties-rupp/ |access-date=2024-05-26 |website=BYJUS |language=en}}</ref>

===== Party proliferation =====
Although a strict anti-defection law had been passed in 1984, there has been a continued tendency amongst politicians to float their own parties rather than join a broad based party such as the Congress or the BJP. Between the 1984 and 1989 elections, the number of parties contesting elections increased from 33 to 113. In the decades since, this fragmentation has continued.{{Sfn|Hicken|Kuhonta|2014|p=205}}