Features of political parties in India

Compared to other democratic countries, India has a large number of political parties. It has been estimated that over 200 parties were formed after India became independent in 1947.^[3] Some features of the political parties in India are that the parties are generally woven around their leaders, the leaders actively playing a dominant role, and that the role of leadership can be transferred, thus tending to take a dynastic route. Such parties include both national and regional parties, such as the Indian National Congress (INC), which has been led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty since independence, beginning with Jawaharlal Nehruwho dominated the INC and led it to victory in three consecutive elections, and continuing with, after a brief interlude of the prime ministership of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi. After the split in the Congress party in 1969 she formed her own Indian National Congress faction called the Indian National Congress (Ruling). After a further split, she formed the Congress (Indira) or Congress(I). Indira remained the leader of the party until her death in 1984, handing power to her son Rajiv Gandhi, who, after his death, his widow Sonia Gandhi, the current leader of INC, took command As a result of such dominance, the leaders of political parties of the country tend to take an autocratic tone.

One other major feature of the political parties is that, except for the communist parties, most of the political parties of India lack an ideological basis. Instead political parties in India are formed on the basis of race, religion, language, caste etc. factors, thus the high number of political parties