There are total 6 National Parties in India.
A party has to live up to at least one of the following qualifications to be recognized as a national party:
- It has to win a minimum of two percent of the seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three different states.
- In General Elections, the party must manage to win six percent of the votes and win at least four Lok Sabha seats as well.
- The party is recognized as a ‘state-level party’ in four or more states.
A party has to live up to at least one of the following qualifications to be acknowledged as a state party.
- The party has to win at least three seats or three percent of the seats in the state Legislative Assembly.
- It has to win minimum one seat in the Lok Sabha for every 25 seats or any fraction allotted to that concerned state.
- In a particular election, the party has to bag at least six percent of the total votes, and also win one Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats.
- The status of a state party can still be bestowed upon an entity even if it fails to win any seats in the Lok Sabha or the Assembly if it manages to win at least eight percent of the total votes cast in the entire state.
National Parties in India
Despite the large number of political parties operating in India, very few are able to make their presence felt at the national level except when it comes to alliances. The natural reason for this is that it takes a long time for any party to evolve from its regional moorings and have its ideology accepted by a large enough segment of the population. The table below lists political parties that boast of a pan-India presence. These have been listed in alphabetical order, and not necessarily in the order of their influence.