The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO: Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan) is an Indian big tent multi-party political alliance, led by country's biggest political party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded on 15 May 1998 and currently controls the government of India as well as the government of 19 Indian states and one Union territory. Its first chairman was then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee. L. K. Advani, the former Deputy Prime Minister, took over as chairman in 2004 and served until 2014, and Amit Shah has been the chairman since 2014. The coalition ruled from 1998 to 2004. The alliance returned to power in the 2014 general elections with a combined vote share of 38.5%. Its leader Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. In the 2019 general election, the alliance further increased its tally to 353 seats with combined vote share of 45.43%. The alliance lost 60 seats in the 2024 general election, but retained enough to form a coalition government, a first in over 10 years. On 7 June 2024, Modi confirmed the support of 293 MPs to Droupadi Murmu, the President of India. This marked Modi's third term as Prime Minister and his first time heading a coalition government, with the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh and Janata Dal (United) of Bihar emerging as two main allies.

History

The NDA was formed in May 1998 as a coalition to contest the general elections. The main aim of the NDA was to form an anti-Indian National Congress coalition. It was led by the BJP, and included several regional parties, including the Samata Party and the AIADMK, as well as Shiv Sena, but Shiv Sena broke away from the alliance in 2019 to join the Maha Vikas Aghadi with Congress and the NCP. Samata Party also broke away from alliance in 2003 after formation of Janta Dal (United). The Shiv Sena was the only member which shared the Hindutva ideology of the BJP. After the election, it was able to muster a slim majority with outside support from the Telugu Desam Party, allowing Atal Bihari Vajpayee to return as prime minister. The government collapsed within a year because the AIADMK withdrew its support. After the entry of a few more regional parties, the NDA proceeded to win the 1999 elections with a larger majority. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for a third time, and this time served a full five-year term. The NDA called elections in early 2004, six months ahead of schedule. Its campaign was based around the slogan of "India Shining" which attempted to depict the NDA government as responsible for a rapid economic transformation of the country. However, the NDA suffered a defeat, winning only a 186 seats in the Lok Sabha, compared to the 222 of the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress, with Manmohan Singh succeeding Vajpayee as prime minister. Commentators have argued that the NDA's defeat was due to a failure to reach out to the rural masses. The scenario however changed quickly with the rise of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi who went on to become India's PM from 2014 onwards. The NDA currently has a supermajority government in the Lok Sabha.

Structure

The National Democratic Alliance does not have a formal governing structure such as an executive board or politburo. It has been up to the leaders of the individual parties to make decisions on issues such as sharing of seats in elections, allocation of ministries and the issues that are raised in Parliament. Given the varied ideologies among the parties, there have been many cases of disagreement and split voting among the allies. Owing to ill health, George Fernandes, who was the NDA convener until 2008, was discharged of his responsibility and replaced by Sharad Yadav, the then national president of the JD(U) political party. On 16 June 2013, the JD(U) left the coalition and Sharad Yadav resigned from the role of the NDA convener. Then the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu was made the NDA convener. Later in 2018, after the withdrawal of TDP from NDA the post of convenor was vacant. However NDA allies like LJP demanded the appointment of a convenor in 2019 for better coordination of the allies. On 27 July 2017 JD(U) with the help of BJP formed the government in Bihar. Later, on 19 August 2017 JD(U) formally rejoined the NDA after 4 years.

Strength in parliament

State wise MPS

Governments

The BJP has previously been the sole party in power in Delhi and Jharkhand. It has also ruled Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab as part of coalition and alliance governments. The NDA has never been in power in 3 states – Kerala, Telangana (between 1999 and 2004 BJP in alliance with TDP ruled a United Andhra Pradesh), and West Bengal. But BJP led NDA has ruled many local governing institutions including corporations, municipalities, panchayats and has also been elected to many Lok Sabha constituencies, state assembly constituencies and local body divisions and wards in these 3 states.

List of current NDA governments

Strength in legislative assemblies

Strength in state legislative assemblies

List of presidents and vice presidents

Note that it refers to nomination by alliance, as the offices of President and Vice President are apolitical.

Presidents

Vice presidents

List of prime ministers

List of deputy prime ministers

List of chief ministers

List of deputy chief ministers

Member parties

As of March 2024, there are 39 political parties that are members of the alliance. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party are the only two political parties being recognised by the Election Commission of India as national parties. Other parties in the alliance are either recognised as state level parties or unrecognised parties.

Candidates in elections

Lok Sabha general elections

Electoral history

Lok Sabha 1998 general election

Lok Sabha 1999 general election

Lok Sabha 2004 general election

Lok Sabha 2009 general election

Lok Sabha 2014 general election

Contested on BJP symbol lotus

Lok Sabha 2019 general election

Contested on AIADMK two leaves symbol

Lok Sabha 2024 general election

Contested by BJP symbol lotus

Electoral performance

Timeline

1999

2004

2009

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

JJP joined hands with NDA to forming a stable government at Haryana with BJP Shiv Sena exited from the NDA, as BJP was not willing to agree for Sharing CM Post with Shiv Sena to form government in Maharashtra. BJP, AJSU sever ties in Jharkhand days before Assembly elections 2019.

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024