National Democratic Alliance facts for kids

Quick facts for kids National Democratic Alliance Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāṁtrika Gaṭhabaṁdhana
Abbreviation	NDA
Chairperson	Amit Shah (Union Cabinet Minister)
Lok Sabha leader	Narendra Modi (Prime Minister)
Rajya Sabha leader	Piyush Goyal (Union Cabinet Minister)
Founder	Atal Bihari Vajpayee Lal Krishna Advani Pramod Mahajan (Bharatiya Janata Party)
Founded	15 May 1998; 27 years ago (1998-05-15)
Ideology	Conservatism (Indian) Nationalism Right-wing populism
Political position	Centre-right to right-wing
ECI Status	Registered
Alliance	40 parties
Seats in Lok Sabha	293 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	113 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies	2,100 / 4,036
Seats in State Legislative Councils	181 / 423
Number of states and union territories in government	20 / 31
Elections

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is a big group of political parties in India. It is mostly led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The NDA was started on May 15, 1998.

Right now, the NDA controls the government of India. They also lead the governments in 19 Indian states and one Union territory.

The first leader of the NDA was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was also the Prime Minister of India. Later, L. K. Advani became the leader. Since 2014, Amit Shah has been the chairman. The NDA was in power from 1998 to 2004. They came back to power in the 2014 general elections. Their leader, Narendra Modi, became the Prime Minister on May 26, 2014. In the 2019 general election, the NDA won even more seats. In the 2024 general election, they won enough seats to form a government again. This was the first time in over 10 years that a coalition government was formed. On June 7, 2024, Narendra Modi confirmed that 293 Members of Parliament supported him. This means he started his third term as Prime Minister.

How the NDA Started

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the first Prime Minister from NDA

Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister from NDA

The NDA was formed in May 1998. Its main goal was to create a group of parties to go against the Indian National Congress. The BJP led this new group. Many regional parties joined, like the Samata Party and the AIADMK. Shiv Sena was also a member, but it later left the group in 2019.

After the 1998 election, the NDA had just enough support to form a government. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister. However, the government fell apart within a year when the AIADMK party stopped supporting it.

More regional parties joined the NDA. This helped them win the 1999 elections with a bigger majority. Vajpayee became Prime Minister for a third time. He then served a full five-year term.

The NDA decided to hold elections early in 2004. Their campaign slogan was "India Shining." They wanted to show that their government had made the country's economy grow fast. But the NDA lost the election. They won 186 seats, while the United Progressive Alliance (led by the Congress party) won 222 seats. Manmohan Singh became the new Prime Minister. Some people think the NDA lost because they didn't connect well with people in rural areas. However, things changed when Narendra Modi became a strong leader. He later became India's Prime Minister in 2014.

How the NDA Works

The National Democratic Alliance does not have a strict rulebook or a formal board. Instead, the leaders of each party make decisions together. They decide things like how to share seats in elections. They also decide which parties get different government jobs.

Because the parties have different ideas, they sometimes disagree. There have been times when they voted differently on important issues.

George Fernandes used to be the main organizer for the NDA until 2008. He was replaced by Sharad Yadav. Later, in 2013, the JD(U) party left the NDA. Sharad Yadav also stepped down. Then, N. Chandrababu Naidu became the organizer. After his party, the TDP, left the NDA in 2018, the position was empty for a while.

On July 27, 2017, the JD(U) rejoined the NDA. They formed a government in Bihar with the help of the BJP.

NDA's Strength in Parliament

The table below shows how many seats the NDA parties have in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India's Parliament) and the Rajya Sabha (the upper house). It also shows which states they are strong in.

NDA Governments in States

The BJP, a main part of the NDA, has been the only ruling party in Delhi and Jharkhand before. It has also ruled in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh as part of other alliances.

The NDA has never been in power in three states: Kerala, Telangana, and West Bengal. However, the BJP and its allies have won many local elections and seats in these states.

Current NDA Governments in States

This table shows the states and Union Territories where the NDA is currently in power. It lists the Chief Minister, their party, and the alliance partners.

Important Leaders of NDA

The NDA has had several important leaders over the years. Here are some of the key figures who have served as President, Vice President, Prime Minister, and Chief Ministers while supported by the NDA.

Presidents Nominated by NDA

The President of India is a non-political role. However, the NDA has supported certain candidates for this high office.

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Term of office Electoral mandates Time in office		Previous post	Vice president	Party
11		A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015)	25 July 2002	25 July 2007	Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India	Krishan Kant (2002) Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2002–2007)	Independent
			2002
			5 years
			Kalam was an educator and engineer who played a leading role in the development of India's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. He also received the Bharat Ratna. He was popularly known as "People's President".
14		Ram Nath Kovind (b.1945)	25 July 2017	25 July 2022	Governor of Bihar	Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2017) Venkaiah Naidu (2017–2022)	Bharatiya Janata Party
			2017
			5 years
			Kovind was governor of Bihar from 2015 to 2017 and a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2006. He is the second Dalit president (after K. R. Narayanan) and is the first president from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is an active member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since his youth.
15		Droupadi Murmu (b.1958)	25 July 2022	Incumbent	Governor of Jharkhand	Venkaiah Naidu (2022) Jagdeep Dhankhar (2022–)	Bharatiya Janata Party
			2022
			2 years, 332 days
			Murmu was governor of Jharkhand from 2015 to 2021 and the Member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from 2000 to 2009. She held several ministerial portfolios in Government of Odisha. She is the first Tribal and second female President of India and is the second president from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Vice Presidents Nominated by NDA

No.	Portrait	Name (birth–death)	Elected (% votes)	Took office	Left office	Term	President	Party
11		Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1925–2010)	2002 (59.82)	19 August 2002	21 July 2007	4 years, 336 days	A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	Bharatiya Janata Party
13		Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu (b. 1949)	2017 (67.89)	11 August 2017	11 August 2022	5 years	Ram Nath Kovind
14		Jagdeep Dhankhar (b. 1951)	2022 (74.50)	11 August 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 315 days	Droupadi Murmu

Prime Ministers from NDA

The NDA has had two Prime Ministers of India.

No.	Prime ministers	Portrait	Term in office			Lok Sabha	Cabinet	Constituency	Party
			Start	End	Tenure
1	Atal Bihari Vajpayee		19 March 1998	10 October 1999	6 years, 64 days	12th	Vajpayee II	Lucknow	Bharatiya Janata Party
			10 October 1999	22 May 2004		13th	Vajpayee III
2	Narendra Modi		26 May 2014	30 May 2019	11 years, 27 days	16th	Modi I	Varanasi
			30 May 2019	9 June 2024		17th	Modi II
			9 June 2024	Incumbent		18th	Modi III

Deputy Prime Ministers from NDA

The NDA has had one Deputy Prime Minister.

No.	Deputy Prime minister	Portrait	Term in office			Lok Sabha	Prime Minister	Constituency
			Start	End	Tenure
1	L. K. Advani		29 June 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 328 days	13th	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Gandhinagar

Chief Ministers from NDA

Many Chief Ministers in different states are part of the National Democratic Alliance.

Chief ministers from the National Democratic Alliance

S.No	State	Name	Portrait	Cabinet
1.	Andhra Pradesh	N. Chandrababu Naidu			Naidu IV
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	Pema Khandu			Pema Khandu IV
3.	Assam	Himanta Biswa Sarma			Sarma I
4.	Bihar	Nitish Kumar			Kumar IX
5.	Chhattisgarh	Vishnu Deo Sai			Sai I
6.	Goa	Pramod Sawant			Pramod Sawant II
7.	Gujarat	Bhupendrabhai Patel			Bhupendrabhai Patel II
8.	Haryana	Nayab Singh Saini			Saini I
9.	Madhya Pradesh	Mohan Yadav			Mohan Yadav I
10.	Maharashtra	Eknath Shinde			Eknath Shinde I
11.	Manipur	N. Biren Singh			N. Biren Singh II
12.	Meghalaya	Conrad Sangma			Conrad Sangma II
13.	Nagaland	Neiphiu Rio			Neiphiu Rio V
14.	Odisha	Mohan Charan Majhi
15.	Puducherry	N. Rangaswamy			N. Rangaswamy IV
16.	Rajasthan	Bhajan Lal Sharma			Sharma I
17.	Sikkim	Prem Singh Tamang			Prem Singh Tamang I
18.	Tripura	Manik Saha			Manik Saha II
19.	Uttar Pradesh	Yogi Adityanath			Yogi Adityanath II
20.	Uttarakhand	Pushkar Singh Dhami			Pushkar Singh Dhami II

Deputy Chief Ministers from NDA

Deputy chief ministers from the National Democratic Alliance

S.No	State	Name	Portrait
1.	Arunachal Pradesh	Chowna Mein
2.	Bihar	Samrat Choudhary
		Vijay Kumar Sinha
3.	Chhattisgarh	Arun Sao
		Vijay Sharma
4	Madhya Pradesh	Jagdish Devda
		Rajendra Shukla
5	Maharashtra	Devendra Fadnavis
		Ajit Pawar
6	Meghalaya	Prestone Tynsong
		Sniawbhalang Dhar
7	Nagaland	T. R. Zeliang
		Yanthungo Patton
8	Rajasthan	Diya Kumari
		Prem Chand Bairwa
9	Uttar Pradesh	Brijesh Pathak
		Keshav Prasad Maurya

Member Parties of NDA

As of March 2024, the NDA includes 39 political parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party are the only two parties recognized as "national parties" by the Election Commission of India. Other parties in the alliance are either recognized at the state level or are smaller, unrecognized parties.

NDA's Election Results

The NDA has taken part in many general elections for the Lok Sabha. Here's a summary of their performance:

Election	Seats won	Change	Total votes	Share of votes	Swing	Status	NDA Leader
1998	265 / 543	New	150,679,142	40.90%	New	Government	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
1999	302 / 543	37	149,823,824	41.12%	3.84%	Government	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2004	188 / 543	114	141,623,671	36.34%	2.52%	Opposition	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
2009	158 / 543	30	101,361,535	24.30%	4.94%	Opposition	L. K. Advani
2014	336 / 543	178	211,784,403	38.66%	12.00%	Government	Narendra Modi
2019	353 / 543	17	272,836,794	44.90%	10.28%	Government	Narendra Modi
2024	293 / 543	60	TBD	TBD	TBD	Government	Narendra Modi

Key Moments in NDA's History

The NDA's journey has seen many changes, with parties joining and leaving the alliance.

2009-2013

• In 2009, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi briefly supported the NDA.
• In 2011, the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) and Republican Party of India (A) joined the NDA. The Rashtriya Lok Dal left the NDA.
• In 2012, the NDA nominated P. A. Sangma for President and Jaswant Singh for Vice-President, but both lost.
• In 2013, the Janta Dal United left the NDA. Narendra Modi was announced as the BJP's candidate for Prime Minister in the 2014 elections.

2014

• Many parties joined the NDA before the 2014 elections. These included the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhhagam, Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam, Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi, Swabhimani Paksha, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, and Lok Janshakti Party.
• The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam and Pattali Makkal Katchi also joined the alliance in Tamil Nadu.
• The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Indian National Lok Dal offered outside support to Narendra Modi.
• The All India NR Congress formally joined the NDA.
• The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) rejoined the NDA after leaving in 2004.
• The Shiv Sena decided to stay with the NDA at the national level, even after leaving a state alliance.
• The All Jharkhand Students Union formed an alliance with the BJP for state elections.

2015-2017

• In 2015, the BJP formed a government with the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party in Jammu and Kashmir. Later that year, the BJP alliance lost the state election in Bihar.
• In 2016, the BJP formed alliances with the Bodoland People's Front and Asom Gana Parishad in Assam. They also allied with the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena Party in Kerala.
• The BJP formed the North-East Democratic Alliance to bring together non-Congress parties in Northeast India.
• In 2017, the BJP formed a government in Goa with support from other parties. They also formed a government in Manipur for the first time.
• The Janata Dal (United) rejoined the NDA in July 2017 and formed a government with the BJP in Bihar.

2018-2019

• In 2018, the BJP formed a government in Tripura for the first time.
• The TDP left the NDA in March 2018. The Rashtriya Lok Samata Party also left in December 2018.
• In December 2018, the NDA lost state elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. They also lost in Telangana.
• In January 2019, the Asom Gana Parishad and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha left the NDA.
• In February 2019, the AIADMK and Pattali Makkal Katchi rejoined the NDA. The DMDK also rejoined in March 2019.
• The BJP formed alliances with the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha in Sikkim, Rayat Kranti Sanghatana in Maharashtra, Puthiya Needhi Katchi in Tamil Nadu, Rashtriya Loktantrik Party in Rajasthan, and Nishad Party in Uttar Pradesh.
• In May 2019, the NDA won the 2019 Indian General election with a large number of seats. They also won state elections in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. However, they lost state elections in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
• In October 2019, the JJP joined the NDA to form a government in Haryana.
• In November 2019, the Shiv Sena left the NDA in Maharashtra. The NCP (Ajit Pawar Faction) briefly joined the NDA in Maharashtra. The NDA lost the state election in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

2020-2022

• In January 2020, Jana Sena joined the BJP alliance in Andhra Pradesh.
• In February 2020, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) merged with the BJP. The NDA lost the state election in Delhi.
• In August 2020, Hindustani Awam Morcha rejoined the NDA.
• In September 2020, Shiromani Akali Dal left the NDA.
• In October 2020, the Vikassheel Insaan Party and All Jharkhand Students Union rejoined the NDA. The Gorkha Janmukhi Morcha and Kerala Congress (Thomas) left the alliance.
• In November 2020, the NDA won the state election in Bihar.
• In December 2020, the United People's Party Liberal and Gana Suraksha Party joined the NDA. The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party left the alliance.
• In March 2021, the Kerala Congress (Thomas) and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam left the NDA.
• In April 2021, the Goa Forward Party left the NDA.
• In May 2021, the NDA lost state elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal. They won in Assam and Puducherry.
• In May 2021, Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) joined the NDA.
• In December 2021, Punjab Lok Congress joined the NDA.
• In January 2022, Lok Insaaf Party briefly joined and then left the NDA. The Bodoland People's Front rejoined the NDA.
• The NDA won state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand, and Manipur in 2022. They lost in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
• In June 2022, a group of Shiv Sena MLAs joined the NDA and formed a government in Maharashtra.
• In August 2022, the Janata Dal (United) left the NDA.
• In September 2022, the Punjab Lok Congress merged with the BJP.

2023-2024

• In February 2023, the BJP broke its alliance with the National People's Party (India) in Meghalaya.
• The NDA won state elections in Tripura, Meghalaya, and Nagaland in 2023. They lost in Karnataka and Telangana.
• In June 2023, Hindustani Awam Morcha rejoined the NDA.
• In July 2023, MLAs from the Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar joined the NDA. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party also joined.
• In September 2023, the Janata Dal (Secular) joined the NDA. The AIADMK left the NDA.
• In December 2023, the NDA won big in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
• In January 2024, the Janata Dal (United) rejoined the NDA.
• In February 2024, the Nationalist Congress Party officially joined the alliance. The Rashtriya Lok Dal also joined.
• In March 2024, the Tipra Motha Party joined the NDA. The Telugu Desam Party rejoined the NDA.

Images for kids

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  A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

• 

  Ram Nath Kovind

• 

  Droupadi Murmu

• 

  Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

• 

  Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu

• 

  Jagdeep Dhankhar

• 

  Atal Bihari Vajpayee

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  L. K. Advani

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  N. Chandrababu Naidu

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  Pema Khandu

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  Himanta Biswa Sarma

• 

  Nitish Kumar

• 

  Vishnu Deo Sai

• 

  Pramod Sawant

• 

  Bhupendrabhai Patel

• 

  Nayab Singh Saini

• 

  Mohan Yadav

• 

  Eknath Shinde

• 

  N. Biren Singh

• 

  Conrad Sangma

• 

  Neiphiu Rio

• 

  N. Rangaswamy

• 

  Bhajan Lal Sharma

• 

  Prem Singh Tamang

• 

  Manik Saha

• 

  Yogi Adityanath

• 

  Pushkar Singh Dhami

• 

  Chowna Mein

• 

  Samrat Choudhary

• 

  Vijay Kumar Sinha

• 

  Arun Sao

• 

  Vijay Sharma

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  Jagdish Devda

• 

  Rajendra Shukla

• 

  Devendra Fadnavis

• 

  Ajit Pawar

• 

  Prestone Tynsong

• 

  T. R. Zeliang

• 

  Yanthungo Patton

• 

  Diya Kumari

• 

  Prem Chand Bairwa

• 

  Brijesh Pathak

• 

  Keshav Prasad Maurya

See Also

In Spanish: Alianza Democrática Nacional (India) para niños

• North-East Democratic Alliance
• United Progressive Alliance, now defunct
• Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance