List of political parties in India in the context of "State legislative assemblies of India"

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; /bʱaːɾət̪iːjə dʒənət̪aː paːrtiː/ ; lit. 'Indian People's Party') is a conservative political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is right-wing to far-right on the political spectrum, and it has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a far-right paramilitary organisation. The party's policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the parliament as well as state legislatures.

The party's origins lie in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which was founded in 1951 by Indian politician Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, after he left the Hindu Mahasabha to form a party as the political wing of the RSS. After the Emergency of 1975–1977, the Jana Sangh merged with several other political parties to form the Janata Party; it defeated the then-incumbent Indian National Congress in the 1977 general election. After three years in power, the Janata Party dissolved in 1980, with the members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh reconvening to form the modern-day BJP. Although initially unsuccessful—winning only two seats in the 1984 general election, it grew in strength on the back of the Ram Rath Yatra in Uttar Pradesh. Following victories in several state elections and better performances in national elections, the BJP became the largest political party in the Parliament in 1996; however, it lacked a majority in the lower house of Parliament, and its government, under its then-leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lasted for only 13 days.

Janata Dal (United) (JD(U), lit. 'People's Party (United)'), is a social democratic and secular Indian political party, rooted mainly in eastern and north-eastern India, whose stated goals are promoting social justice and lifting up marginalised people. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar, where it heads the government, Manipur, where it is part of the government coalition in the legislative assembly, and Arunachal Pradesh. JD(U), as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, won 12 seats in the 2024 Indian general election, making it the seventh largest party in the Lok Sabha.

JD(U) was formed with the merger of Sharad Yadav's faction of the Janata Dal, the Samata Party and the Lok Shakti party on 30 October 2003. The party's mentor and patron was the veteran socialist George Fernandes, successively leader of the Samyukta Socialist Party, the Socialist Party and the Samata Party. However, the Election Commission of India initially refused the merger of the latter: party president Brahmanand Mandal was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and not physically well, so Uday Mandal replaced him.