Question

Highlights the reason for rise of regional parties

Answer 1

The recent States Assembly Elections in five states of India indicate that Indian voters are becoming more region-centric. In three states - West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala - people have rejected national level parties, opting instead for regional ones. The BJP-led alliance succeeded in Assam while the Congress-led coalition won in Puducherry.  

Today, out of India's 29 states, the Indian National Congress (INC) led alliances have six states and BJP led coalitions are in nine states. The rest 14 are ruled by regional parties. As of 2015, the Election Commission of India recognises only six national parties, 62 state parties and 1,737 registered but unrecognised parties in federal India. Among the six national parties, only two have presence all over India – the Congress and BJP. The four other national parties are basically state parties – the CPI, CPI(M), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and National Congress Party (NCP), although they have contested national elections from more than one state.