Politics in India is party dominated. A Political Party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. Parties reflect fundamental political divisions in a society.
A political party has the leaders, the active members and the followers. The leaders of political parties contest elections and formulate policies/programmes on the basis of which voters choose their representatives. Parties play a decisive role in making laws. Major political decisions are taken by political executive from these political parties.
Those parties that lose in the elections play the role of opposition party and they too play important role by criticizing government for its wrong policies. Parties shape public opinion in the way that they sometimes launch movements for solving problems faced by people.
India has multiple parties. More than 750 parties are registered with the Election Commission of India. In the multi-party system regional parties dominate the scene in most states. Each party has a party symbol that helps in recognizing the party. In spite of several ups and downs in the political situation of the country, India has maintained its sovereignty and provided its people stable governance. The multiparty political competition has been intensified in contemporary period. As a solution, it has given birth to major political alliances.
Today, Indian politics is dominated by two major political alliances. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). There exist two types of political parties in India-
1. National Parties
2. Regional or State Parties
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