Write about national parties and state …

National political parties

1. Democracies that follow a federal system all over the world tend to have two kinds of political parties: parties that are present in only one of the federal units and parties that are present in several or all units of Federation.
2. Every party in the country has to register with the Election Commission. While the Election Commission treats all parties equally it offers some special facilities to large and established parties.
3. Parties that get this privilege and some other special facilities are ‘recognised’ by the Election Commission for this purpose. That is why these parties are called, ‘recognised political parties’.
4. According to this classification, there were six national recognised parties in the country in 2006. These are:
I) Indian National Congress
II) Bharatiya Janta Party
III) Bahujan Samaj Party
IV) Communist Party of Indian-Marxist
V) Communist Party of India
VI) Nationalist Congress Party

State party

1. Other than these six parties, most of the major parties of the country are classified by the Election Commission as ‘State parties’.
2. Parties like the
I) Samajwadi party,
II) Samata party and Rashtriya Janta Dal have national level political organization with units in several states.

3. Some of these parties like Biju Janta Dal, Sikkim Democratic Front and Mizo national Front are conscious about their state identity.
4. Over the last three decades, the number and strength of these parties has expanded.