India is the largest democratic country with an electorate of more than 714 million (which is larger than combined numbers of US and Europe) and the election are not held at once for the entire country but a series of elections are held which cover the whole India by holding elections in a specific numbers of states. Regular elections are held at the end of tenure of the respective government.

This is the season of elections in India as 7 states of India will see the legistative assembly election in 2012. The these states includes Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. If you are visiting India during this time, you could see many political parties campaigning in these states.

There are large number of political parties in India as Indian constitution allows multiparty political system  Let’s me show you some prominent political parties in India.

1. भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस (Indian National Congress, in short INC)
The Indian National Congress is the first political party in India. It was founded in pre-independence time, in 1885 and had prominent freedom fighters including Mahatma Gandhi as it’s members. It has actively participated in the freedom struggle of India. After independence, it became the dominant political party in India. Even today, it is biggest political party and presently, it is also the ruling party of India.

2. भारतीय जनता पार्टी (Bhartiya Janta Party, in short BJP)
Bhartiya Janta Party is the second biggest political party of India. It was founded in 1980. It is different as compared to INC as it favors Hindu nationalism and strongly advocates conservative social policies, self-reliance, free market capitalistic policy, foreign policy driven by a nationalist agenda, and strong national defense. It also favor some strict laws against terrorism. This is in contrast to  the present ruling political party, INC which has shown its weakness to handle such menace.

3. बहुजन समाज पार्टी (Bhahujan Samajwadi Party, in short BSP)
The BSP was founded by 1984 and now the third largest party in India.  “Bhahujan” in Bhahujan Samajwadi Party means “the people of majority”. It favors the welfare of lower classes, secularism, social welfare in India. It has majority in the state of Uttar Pardesh.

There are other political parties which are regional like समाजवादी  पार्टी (Samajwadi Party), भारतीय कोम्मुनिस्ट पार्टी (Communist Party of India) etc.