Jump to content

Official Opposition (India)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In India, Official Opposition designates largest party not supporting the ruling cabinet in the Parliament of India or a State or Territory Legislative Assembly. To get formal recognition in either upper or lower houses, the concerned party must have at least 10% of the total strength of the house.[1] A single party has to meet the 10% seat criterion, not an alliance. Many of the Indian state legislatures also follow this 10% rule while the rest of them prefer single largest opposition party according to the rules of their respective houses.

Role

[edit]

The Opposition's main role is to question the government of the day and hold them accountable to the public. This also helps to fix the mistakes of the Ruling Party. The Opposition is equally responsible in upholding the best interests of the people of the country. They have to ensure that the Government does not take any steps, which might have negative effects on the people of the country.

The role of the opposition in legislature is basically to check the excesses of the ruling or dominant party, and not to be totally antagonistic. There are actions of the ruling party which may be beneficial to the masses and opposition is expected to support such steps.

In legislature the Opposition Party has a major role, which is:

  1. Constructive criticism of government.
  2. Putting restriction on arbitrariness of ruling party.
  3. Safeguarding liberty and right of people.
  4. Preparation to form government.
  5. Expression of public opinion.

Current official opposition parties

[edit]

Parliament

[edit]

This is the list of current opposition parties in the Parliament of India:

House Party Seats Total seats
Lok Sabha Indian National Congress 99 543
Rajya Sabha Indian National Congress 27 245

Legislative Assemblies

[edit]

This is the list of current opposition parties in the Legislative Assemblies of the Indian states and union territories:.[2]

State/UT Party Seats Total seats
Andhra Pradesh N/A
(no opposition with at least 10% seats)
175
Arunachal Pradesh N/A
(no opposition with at least 10% seats)
60
Assam Indian National Congress 26 126
Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal 79 243
Chhattishgarh Indian National Congress 35 90
Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party 8 70
Goa Indian National Congress 3 40
Gujarat N/A

(no opposition with at least 10% seats)

- 182
Haryana Indian National Congress 30 90
Himachal Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party 25 68
Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party 29 90
Jharkhand Bharatiya Janata Party 26 81
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party 66 224
Kerala Indian National Congress 21 140
Madhya Pradesh Indian National Congress 66 230
Maharashtra Indian National Congress 45 288
Manipur N/A
(no opposition with at least 10% seats)
60
Meghalaya All India Trinamool Congress 5 60
Mizoram Mizo National Front 10 40
Nagaland N/A
(no opposition with at least 10% seats)
60
Odisha Biju Janata Dal 51 147
Puducherry Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 6 33
Punjab Indian National Congress 18 117
Rajasthan Indian National Congress 69 200
Sikkim N/A
(no opposition with at least 10% seats)
32
Tamil Nadu All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 65 234
Telangana Bharat Rashtra Samithi 39 119
Tripura Communist Party of India (Marxist) 10 60
Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party 111 403
Uttarakhand Indian National Congress 19 70
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party 70 294

Legislative Councils

[edit]

This is the list of current opposition parties in the Legislative Councils of the Indian states:

State Party Seats Total seats
Andhra Pradesh YSR Congress Party 39 58
Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal 14 75
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party 35 75
Maharashtra Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) 12 78
Telangana Bharat Rashtra Samithi 27 40
Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party 10 100

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "16th Lok Sabha won't have leader of opposition". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Legislative Bodies". legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in. Retrieved 17 January 2019.

Further reading

[edit]