India’s Domestic Political Setting

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Updated December 8, 2023
India’s Domestic Political Setting
Overview

expelled from Parliament. Five months later, India’s
India, the world’s most populous country, is, according to
Supreme Court reversed the conviction and he was returned
its Constitution, a “sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic
to Parliament. In July 2023, more than two dozen
republic” where the bulk of executive power rests with the
opposition parties formed the new Indian National
prime minister and his Council of Ministers. The Indian
Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or “INDIA,” a coalition
president is a ceremonial chief of state with limited
to contest the 2024 elections.
executive powers. Since its 1947 independence, most of
India’s 14 prime ministers have come from the country’s
The BJP and Congress are, in practice, India’s only
Hindi-speaking northern regions, and all but 3 have been
genuinely national parties. In the 2009 and 2014 elections
upper-caste Hindus. The 543-seat Lok Sabha (House of
they together won roughly half of all votes cast nationally,
the People) is the locus of national power, with directly
but in 2019 the BJP boosted its share to nearly 38% of the
elected representatives from each of the country’s 28 states
estimated 600 million votes cast (to Congress’s 20%;
and 8 union territories. A smaller upper house of a
turnout was a record 67%). The influence of regional and
maximum 250 seats, the Rajya Sabha (Council of States),
caste-based (and often “family-run”) parties—although
may review, but not veto, revenue legislation, and has no
blunted by two consecutive BJP majority victories—
powers over the prime minister or cabinet. Lok Sabha and
remains a crucial variable in Indian politics. Such parties
state legislators are elected to five-year terms. Rajya Sabha
hold roughly one-third of all Lok Sabha seats. In 2019,
members are elected by state assemblies to six-year terms;
more than 8,000 candidates and hundreds of parties vied for
12 are appointed by the president.
parliament seats; 33 of those parties won at least one seat.
India’s next national elections are
The seven parties listed below account for 84% of Lok
expected in spring 2024.
Elections to seat India’s 17
Sabha seats. The BJP’s economic reform agenda can be
th Lok Sabha were held in spring
impeded in the Rajya Sabha, where opposition parties can
2019, when the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, or
“Indian Peoples Party”) won a
align to block certain nonrevenue legislation (see Figure 1).
sweeping and repeat victory
under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2014, the BJP had
Figure 1. Party Representation in India’s Parliament
become the first party to attain a parliamentary majority
after 30 years of coalition governments, and it was able to
expand that majority in 2019 to become the first party to
win consecutive majorities since 1971. Modi, a self-avowed
Hindu nationalist, ran a campaign seen as divisive by many
analysts. While he and his party have long sought to
emphasize economic development and good governance,
nine years in office have brought a mixed record on those
accounts. The 2019 election cycle (and a key 2022 state
election in Uttar Pradesh) revolved around nationalism and
religion, with growing concerns among many observers that
strident Hindu majoritarianism threatens the status of
India’s religious minorities and to the country’s syncretic
traditions. Still, hundreds of millions across the country

Source: Parliament of India as of June 2023. Graphic created by CRS.
voted to keep the remarkably popular party and prime
minister in power.
Key Government Officials
The Indian National Congress Party (“Congress” or
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was chief minister of the
“Congress Party”) and its United Progressive Alliance
economically dynamic and relatively developed western
(UPA) coalition, in power from 2004-2014 with Manmohan
state of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 before becoming India’s
Singh in the top office, suffered a second consecutive
first-ever lower-caste prime minster. He is a lifelong
electoral rout in 2019. The party of India’s first prime
member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS or
minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress had dominated the
“National Volunteer Organization”; see below).
country’s politics from 1947 to 1996. Nehru’s daughter,
Indira Gandhi, and her son, Rajiv, also served as prime
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who took the defense
minister; both were assassinated in office. The party, led by
portfolio in 2019, was home minister from 2014 to 2019,
Rajiv’s son, Rahul, in 2014 and 2019 again failed to win
BJP president during the 2014 campaign, and has served as
even the 10% of seats required to officially lead the Lok
chief minister of Uttar Pradesh as well as in the cabinet of
Sabha opposition. In March 2023, Rahul Gandhi was
the BJP-led government from 1999 to 2004.
convicted in a criminal defamation case, which the
Home Minister Amit Shah, a top Modi lieutenant from
Congress Party contends was politically motivated, and
Gujarat and also a longtime RSS member, took his portfolio
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India’s Domestic Political Setting
in 2019 and, in 2021, became the country’s first Minister of
Shiv Sena is a Hindu nationalist, ethnic Marathi party
Cooperation. He was BJP party president for 2014-2020.
based in Maharashtra and long aligned with the BJP at the
national level until 2019. The party fractured in 2022—a
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s first-ever
newly BJP-allied “core” Shiv Sena still governs in Mumbai,
female finance minister, is also Minister for Corporate
Affairs. She is a Tamil Nadu native and was the BJP’s
while an ousted faction joined the INDIA alliance. The
party won 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 election.
national spokeswoman before serving as India’s first female
defense minister from 2017 to 2019.
Janata Dal (United) (JDU), a secularist, social democratic
party in Bihar, is led by state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,
External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was
who aligned the party with the BJP in 2017, then ended the
foreign secretary from 2015 to 2018 and has served as
India’s Ambassador to
alliance in 2022 and has since joined the INDIA opposition.
both the United States and China.
The JDU won 16 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
He became India’s first-ever career diplomat to hold the
MEA portfolio after joining the BJP in 2019.
Others: Two major regional parties, Uttar Pradesh’s
Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, were bitter
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, a former
rivals that struck a rare alliance to compete with the BJP in
investment banker and BJP stalwart from Maharashtra, has
2019. They garnered a combined 47% of the state’s total
also led the consumer affairs ministry since 2020, and
votes, but won a disproportionately low 15 of the state’s 80
added the textiles ministry portfolio in 2021.
Lok Sabha seats. Similarly, in Tamil Nadu, the regional All
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who took the post in
India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), an NDA
2014, is a former police officer and intelligence officer
member, received nearly 19% of the state’s votes while
from Kerala who served as Director of the Intelligence
winning one of the state’s 38 Lok Sabha seats.
Bureau after a decade running its operations wing.
Federal System and State Elections
President Droupadi Murmu, a recent governor of
The Indian Constitution divides legislative powers into a
Jharkhand, is the second woman and first member of a
Union List, a State List, and a Concurrent List. Although
tribal community to hold the office.
India’s union government is granted more powers than in
Leading Parties
most other federal systems (including that of the United
States), the State List provides state assemblies and their
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) arose in 1980 as the
chief ministers with exclusive powers over 66 “items,”
political wing of the RSS, a militant Hindu nationalist and
including public order, law enforcement, health care, and
social service group itself founded in 1925 and progenitor
power, communication, and transportation networks.
of dozens of affiliated organizations (the “Sangh Parivar”).
The BJP advocates Hindu nationalism (“Hindutva”) and is
Nearly half of Indians live in only five states: Uttar
right-leaning on social policy with a generally more pro-
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya
business outlook than others, although it is also home to
Pradesh. Three of these have BJP chief ministers. In 2021
“swadeshi” (self-sufficiency) sentiments. The party
state elections in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC
emerged as the only national-level competitor for the Indian
survived a historic BJP surge to win reelection as the state
National Congress after 1998. The NDA-leading BJP won
assembly’s majority party. Uttar Pradesh, considered an
303 Lok Sabha seats with 38% of the popular vote in 2019.
electoral bellwether with more than 200 million citizens,
held elections in early 2022. These were widely previewed
Indian National Congress (INC) is generally regarded as a
as a referendum on the central government’s performance,
populist, center-left party, although a Congress-led
and they brought a repeat win for the BJP under Chief
government presided over significant economic
Minster Yogi Adityanath, a Hindutva firebrand. Later in
liberalization in the early 1990s. Rajiv Gandhi’s widow,
2022, the Congress Party lost control of Punjab to another
Sonia, is UPA chairwoman and their son, Rahul, served as
BJP adversary, but managed to unseat a BJP government in
party president from 2017 to 2022; both offered to resign
Himachal Pradesh. In May 2023, Congress ousted another
following historic electoral defeats in 2014 and 2019. The
incumbent BJP government in Karnataka, in India’s
INC won 52 Lok Sabha seats with 20% of the 2019 vote.
relatively prosperous south. However, in November 2023,
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is a Tamil Nadu-
state elections saw the BJP expand its majority in Madya
based party led by former Chennai mayor M.K. Stalin.
Pradesh while displacing Congress Party governments in
Social democratic with a mostly ethnic Tamil constituency,
Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
the INDIA member won 23 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
The nationally ruling BJP is now in power in 12 Indian
All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC or TMC), a
states, with NDA-allied chief ministers seated in another 4.
professedly secular party, wins its support in West Bengal,
The Congress Party controls three state governments; its
where party leader Mamata Banerjee is also chief minister.
INDIA allies lead six others. Three states are run by parties
The TMC, a UPA member from 2004 to 2012 and now with
independent of either national coalition. Steadily
INDIA, won 22 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
broadening its state assembly presence in recent years—
which directly translates to increased presence in the Rajya
YSR Congress (YSRCP) was founded in 2011 by
Sabha—the BJP now accounts for more than one-third of
Jaganmohan Reddy, son of a former Andhra Pradesh chief
the country’s state legislators, as compared to under one-
minister, after a split with the Congress Party. It dominates
fifth for the declining Congress.
the state assembly and won 22 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
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India’s Domestic Political Setting

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