The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is an Indian multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded on 15 May 1998. It currently has a majority in both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, and controls the Government of India as well as the governments of 20 out of 28 Indian states and 2 out of 3 Union territories with legislative assemblies.
Its first chairman was then Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who served from 1998 until 2004. L. K. Advani, the former Deputy Prime Minister, took over as chairman in 2004 and served until 2014. Amit Shah has been the chairman since 2014.
The NDA controlled a majority in the Indian Parliament from 1998 to 2004. The alliance returned to power in the 2014 general elections with a combined vote share of 38.5%. BJP leader, Narendra Modi, was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014, his party having won 282 of the 520 seats in the lower house. In the 2019 general election, the alliance further increased its tally to 353 seats with a combined vote share of 45.43%. The alliance lost 60 seats in the 2024 general election, but retained sufficient seats to form a coalition government. On 7 June 2024, Modi confirmed the support of 293 MPs to President Droupadi Murmu; he was then asked by her to form a government. 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 the 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 J. Jayalalithaa's 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 then 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 lower house, the Lok Sabha, compared to 222 of the United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress. Manmohan Singh thus succeeded Vajpayee as prime minister, serving for ten years 2004–14. Commentators have argued that the NDA's defeat was due to a failure to reach out to the rural masses. The political situation, however, changed again with the rise of NDA-aligned Gujarati Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, who went on to become India's Prime Minister following the NDA's success in the election of 2014.
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 other issues that arise in parliament or more broadly. Given the varied ideologies among the parties, there have been many cases of disagreement and split voting amongst the allies making up the Alliance.
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.
List of Chairmen Atal Bihari Vajpayee 1998 to 2004. L. K. Advani 2004 to 2014. Amit Shah 2014 to date.
List of Convenors George Fernandes 1998 to 2008. Sharad Yadav 2008 to 2013. N. Chandrababu Naidu 2013 to 2018.
Strength in parliament
Party wise
PartyLok SabhaRajya SabhaStates/UTsBharatiya Janata Party 240 116National partyNationalist Citizens Party of India 20 0West BengalTelugu Desam Party 16 4Andhra PradeshShiv Sena 13 2MaharashtraJanata Dal (United) 12 4BiharLok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 5 0BiharRashtriya Lok Dal 2 1 Uttar PradeshJanata Dal (Secular) 2 0KarnatakaJanasena Party 2 1Andhra PradeshNationalist Congress Party 1 4 MaharashtraAsom Gana Parishad 1 1AssamAll Jharkhand Students Union 1 0JharkhandApna Dal (Sonelal) 1 0Uttar PradeshHindustani Awam Morcha 1 0BiharSikkim Krantikari Morcha 1 0SikkimAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 0 4Tamil NaduRashtriya Lok Morcha 0 1BiharNational People's Party 0 1National partyRepublican Party of India (Athawale) 0 1MaharashtraPattali Makkal Katchi 0 1Tamil NaduTamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) 0 0Tamil NaduBodoland People's Front 0 0AssamAmma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam 0 0Tamil NaduNaga People's Front 0 0NagalandSuheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party 0 0Uttar PradeshMaharashtrawadi Gomantak Party 0 0Goa All India N.R. Congress 0 0PuducherryBharath Dharma Jana Sena 0 0KeralaTwenty20 Kizhakkambalam 0 0KeralaIndigenous People's Front of Tripura 0 0TripuraRashtriya Samaj Paksha 0 0MaharashtraUnited Democratic Party 0 0MeghalayaHill State People's Democratic Party 0 0MeghalayaHaryana Lokhit Party 0 0HaryanaKerala Kamaraj Congress 0 0KeralaGorkha National Liberation Front 0 0West BengalJan Surajya Shakti 0 0Maharashtra Independent 0 3Haryana Odisha Jharkhand NOM 0 7 NoneTotal318151India
State/UT wise MPS +Source:State/UTSeats BJP NDA AlliesOverall TallyLSRSLSRSPartyLSRSStatesAndhra Pradesh25113216 421Arunachal Pradesh2121NoneAssam1479411 Bihar4016127124 501001Chhattisgarh115102None Goa2111NoneGujarat26112511NoneHaryana10553Independent01Himachal Pradesh4342NoneJharkhand1468310Karnataka281217520Kerala20910NoneMadhya Pradesh2911299NoneMaharashtra4819981321401Manipur2101NoneMeghalaya210001Mizoram1100NoneNagaland1101NoneOdisha2110205NonePunjab13706NoneRajasthan2510145NoneSikkim110110Tamil Nadu3918000401Telangana17780NoneTripura2121NoneUttar Pradesh803133242110Uttarakhand5353NoneWest Bengal4216123200Union TerritoriesAndaman and Nicobar Islands11NoneChandigarh10NoneDadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu21NoneDelhi7371NoneJammu and Kashmir5421NoneLadakh10NoneLakshadweep10NonePuducherry1101NoneNominated125Nom7Total543245240116Allies5233
State governments
The NDA is currently in power in 20 states and 2 union territories of India (out of 28 states and 3 union territories).
The NDA has never been in power in two states: Kerala and Telangana (between 1999 and 2004, BJP in alliance with TDP ruled a united Andhra Pradesh). 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 2 states.
17 states and 1 union territory currently have a deputy chief minister, with 9 of them having two deputy chief ministers each. 12 of these states have deputy ministers from NDA, making for 23 of 28 incumbents.
S.NoState/UTNDA Govt sinceChief MinisterAlliance PartnersSeatsLast election Portrait Name CabinetParty Seats Since Deputy(s) 1 Andhra Pradesh 12 June 2024 N. Chandrababu Naidu 135 12 June 2024 Pawan Kalyan (JSP) (21) 164/175 4 June 2024 (8) 2 Arunachal Pradesh 16 September 2016 Pema Khandu 46 16 September 2016Chowna Mein None 46/60 4 June 2024 3 Assam 19 May 2016 Himanta Biswa Sarma 82 10 May 2021 Vacant (10) 102/126 4 May 2026 (10)4Bihar28 January 2024 Samrat Choudhary 88 28 January 2024 Vijay Kumar Chaudhary Bijendra Prasad Yadav(JDU) (85)201/243 14 November 2025 (19) (5) (4) 5 Chhattisgarh 13 December 2023 Vishnu Deo Sai 54 13 December 2023 Arun Sao Vijay Sharma None 54/90 3 December 2023 6 Delhi 20 February 2025 Rekha Gupta 48 20 February 2025 Vacant None 48/7005 February 2025 7 Goa 6 March 2012 Pramod Sawant 27 19 March 2019 Vacant (2) 32/40 10 March 2022 (3) 8 Gujarat 28 February 1998 Bhupendrabhai Patel 162 13 September 2021 Harsh Sanghavi (2) 164/182 8 December 2022 9 Haryana 19 October 2014 Nayab Singh Saini 48 12 March 2024 Vacant (3) 51/90 8 October 2024 10 Madhya Pradesh 23 March 2020 Mohan Yadav 165 13 December 2023 Jagdish Devda Rajendra Shukla None 165/230 3 December 2023 11 Maharashtra 30 June 2022 Devendra Fadnavis 132 5 December 2024 Eknath Shinde (SHS)Sunetra Pawar (NCP) (57) 237/288 23 November 2024 (41) (2) (1) (1) (1) (2) 12 Manipur 4 February 2026 Yumnam Khemchand Singh 37 4 February 2026 Nemcha Kipgen (BJP)Losii Dikho (NPF) (5) 46/60 10 March 2022 (1) (3) 13 Meghalaya 6 March 2018 Conrad Sangma 33 6 March 2018 Prestone Tynsong Sniawbhalang Dhar(NPP) (12) 51/60 2 March 2023 (2) (2) (2) 14 Nagaland 8 March 2018 Neiphiu Rio 34 8 March 2018 T.R. Zeliang(NPF) Yanthungo Patton(BJP) (12) 60/60 2 March 2023 (5) (2) (2) (5) 15 Odisha 12 June 2024 Mohan Charan Majhi 79 12 June 2024 Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo Pravati Parida (14) 93/147 4 June 2024 16 Puducherry 7 May 2021 N. Rangaswamy 10 7 May 2021 Vacant (6) 18/30 2 May 2021 (2) 17 Rajasthan 15 December 2023 Bhajan Lal Sharma 118 15 December 2023 Diya Kumari Prem Chand Bairwa (2) 127/200 3 December 2023 (1) (6) 18 Sikkim 27 May 2019Prem Singh Tamang 32 27 May 2019 Vacant None 32/32 2 June 202419Tripura9 March 2018Manik Saha 3315 May 2022 (13)47/602 March 2023 (1) 20 Uttar Pradesh 17 March 2017 Yogi Adityanath 258 17 March 2017 Keshav Prasad Maurya Brajesh Pathak (13) 291/403 10 March 2022 (9) (6) (5) (3) 21 Uttarakhand 18 March 2017 Pushkar Singh Dhami 47 3 July 2021 Vacant None 47/7010 March 2022 22 West Bengal 9 May 2026 Suvendu Adhikari 208 9 May 2026 None 208/29423 & 29 April 2026
Strength in legislative assemblies The following is a list of the current number of Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the BJP as well as other political parties in the NDA in each of the 28 Indian states and 3 Union territories with legislative assemblies. The NDA currently holds a majority of the seats in 20 states and two Union territories, out of which the BJP on its own holds a majority of the seats in 16 states and one Union territory.