National Democratic Alliance
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO: Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāṁtrika Gaṭhabaṁdhana) is a centre-right to right-wing conservative Indian political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[2] It was founded on 15 May 1998[3] and currently controls the government of India as well as the government of 19 Indian states and one Union territory.
For other organizations of the same name, see National Democratic Alliance (disambiguation).
National Democratic Alliance Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrika Gaṭhabandhana
NDA
15 May 1998
Registered
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%.[4] 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%.[5] 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.[6] This marked Modi's third term as Prime Minister and his first time heading a coalition government,[7] with the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh and Janata Dal (United) of Bihar emerging as two main allies.[8][9][10]
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.[17] 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.[18]
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.[19]