Only 19 Muslim Leaders Among 263 Presidents of Different Political Parties

* Nine out of 98 Congress chiefs have been Muslims

* All three AIMIM chiefs have been Muslims

* Over 1,500 parties contested 15 Lok Sabha elections

INDIA has seen an unimpressive representation of Muslims as chiefs of political parties, according to a new book by Mohammed Abdul Mannan, At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25

which quantifies Muslim presence in 150 key organisations, including Union ministries, departments, and other organisations.

The world’s largest multi-party democracy boasts six national parties, 58 state parties, and 2,763 unrecognised parties, as of mid-2025.

Formed in December 1985 as the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa, the Indian National Congress (INC) has seen nine Muslim leaders heading it out of a total of 98.

The first Muslim to head the Congress party was Badruddin Tyabji in 1887 and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the last Muslim to head it for six years from 1940. He also had the distinction of being the only person to head the national party twice, after being chosen for the first time in 1923.

The second oldest political party, Shromani Akali Dal (SAD), formed in 1920 in Punjab, has seen 20 chiefs in its history. The All India Majlis Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), whose origin dates back to 1927, has seen three chiefs, all Muslims, including Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi, a most articulate community voice at the helm of affairs at the third oldest political party.

India conducted its first General Elections in 1951 after the Election Commission of India (ECI) emerged as a constitutional body in January 1950 to conduct free and fair elections in the country, with only the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). There were 54 political parties registered in 1950 with the ECI, a number which went up to 475 in 2014 when the 16^th Lok Sabha polls took place.

In October 1989, the CEC was made a multi-member body with two additional Election Commissioners (ECs). Three years after the ECs post was abolished, the ECI became a three-member body in October 1993. The concept of a multi-member commission has been in operation since then. The Election Commission grants recognition to national-level and state-level political parties based on objective criteria.

A recognised political party enjoys privileges such as a reserved party symbol, free broadcast time on state-run television and radio, consultation in the setting of election dates, and providing inputs in setting electoral rules and regulations. Other political parties wishing to contest local, state, or national elections have to be registered with the ECI. Registered parties can be upgraded to recognised national or state parties by the ECI if they meet the relevant criteria after a Lok Sabha or state legislative assembly poll.

There were five major political parties operational in India before 1947. The Indian National Congress was the oldest party established in 1885, followed by All India Muslim League (1906), Hindu Mahasabha (1915), Justice Party (1917), and the Communist Party of India (1925). 

There were also many other parties with limited or regional appeal. After Independence, in 1952, CPI became the largest opposition party in Parliament with 16 MPs. In 1964, CPI (Marxist) split from the parent CPI. The Congress party dominated the country’s politics during the 1950s. During the 1960s and 1970s, new political parties emerged, including Jan Sangh, the political arm of the Hindu fundamentalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Officials say out of more than 1,500 political parties that contested the 15 Lok Sabha polls, a majority were in the field only once. Only 34 parties contested more than half of these elections. A report by British newswire, Reuters, says in 2024: Besides nearly a billion voters and more than a million polling stations, Indian general elections are big for another reason: the sheer number of aspirants. There were more than 30 other parties contesting in 2024 that won at least one seat in the 2019 polls.

Candidates fielded by more than 30 other parties had won at least one seat in the previous election in 2019. Hidden behind a heated contest between large parties are more than 700 less known political parties with diverse ideologies and ambitions, with their victory chances at very low. The number of parties has been steadily rising, but those that managed to win seats have barely grown.

Data shows 744 parties fielded candidates in the 2024 elections. There had been a steep increase in the number of contesting parties from 1989 onwards, when more than 100 parties were in the fray. In addition to the 4,440 candidates fielded by different parties, there were 3,920 independent candidates; altogether 8,360 candidates remained in the fray, the largest in 28 years.

The rapid growth of political parties from the late 1980s onward could be the result of several factors, such as the decline of the Congress party, fragmentation within the socialist blocs, and an assertion of various political identities in the country. Data about directly-elected members in the respective national parliaments in 14 large democracies places the US at the top of the list. The UK comes in second place with 71 parties that contested the previous elections, followed by Thailand and Spain.

Among these countries, Japan ranked last with 13 countries. Currently, there are only three parties that contest elections across the country – Bharatiya Janata Party BJP), Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). However, only the first two have so far managed to win seats from a diverse set of states. In the 2019 elections, the BSP polled only four per cent votes compared with 56 percent by the other two parties put together. India’s political landscape is full of smaller but politically strong regional parties that enjoy support in specific regions. With its 24 elected members, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), a party based in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, is the third largest in the Lok Sabha.

Most governments in the past three decades have been led by a coalition of parties, even when a single party managed to cross the half-way mark. India follows a first-past-the-post electoral system, in which voters cast a ballot for a single candidate and the one with the highest number wins. Nearly half of the members ever elected to the Lok Sabha have won with a share of less than 50 per cent of the vote in the constituencies they contested. Twenty-four won with less than a quarter.

Founding political parties serves purposes beyond electoral gains, such as legal exemption from income tax, which could be another reason for their proliferation, according to the election watchdog, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). Two major national parties dominate across the country – BJP and Congress. In the past 10 elections, their combined vote share has been 52 per cent on average. In 2024, there were 18 parties in the fray to contest more than five elections previously but never won any.

Eighteen political parties fielded candidates in the 2024 election and had also fielded candidates in more than five elections previously, but never won any seats. Some of them have contested and won state-level elections. But eight have failed even there. In a report in 2010, a government committee on electoral reforms said a large number of candidates made the elections “cumbersome, expensive and unmanageable” and “increases expenditure on account of security, maintenance of law and order, and requires an extra number of balloting units of voting machines,” along with other issues.

A registered party is considered a national party if it fulfills one of the three criteria: Securing two per cent of Lok Sabha seats from at least three states; six per cent of votes in four states and four Lok Sabha seats, or if the party is recognised as a state party in four or more states of the country. It is, therefore, determined after Lok Sabha or state legislative assembly elections, whether political parties gain a national status or lose it.

The Aam Admi Party (AAP) had been the latest addition to the list of national parties. On the other hand, in April 2023, the Election Commission revoked the national party status of three former national parties – Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Communist Party of India (CPI). A different set of criteria is applicable for state-level parties. As of May 2025, there are over 2,800 Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPPs), according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

However, only about 750 of them contested the 2024 general elections. Till May 2025, 281 parties have been de-listed and 217 marked as inactive. RUPPs that have not contested any election in the last six years and whose offices could not be physically traced get delisted. The period of 1996–1999 had three general elections. Since 1996, 23 regional parties have been sharing power at the national level.

According to the ECI, there are 52 political parties which are active in one state, of whom five have Muslims at their helm of affairs. Mehbooba Mufti chairs the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party which was formed in 1999. Farooq Abdullah heads the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, formed in 1932. Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal heads the Indian Union Muslim League (IIUML), formed in 1948. Badruddin Ajmal is the chief of the All India United Democratic Front, formed in 2005. Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) traces its origin to 1927.

No Muslim heads the eight state parties which have their presence in two states. Ten out of the total 65 notable RUPPs are headed by Muslims. SQR. Ilyas heads the Welfare Party of India formed in 2011. MK Faizy is at the helm of affairs at the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) formed in 2009. Aamir Rashidi Madni’s Rastriya Ulama Council came up in 2008. Peace Party of India, formed in 2008, is headed by Mohammed Ayub.

M H Jawahir Ullah formed Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) in 2009. Junaid heads the Jammu and Kashmir Workers Party he formed in 2020. Since 2020, Altaf Bukhari is at the helm of affairs of the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party. Tauqeer Raza Khan came up in 2001 with the Ittehad-e-Millat Council while Nawshad Siddique’s Indian Secular Front was born in 2021. Controversial businesswoman from Hyderabad Nowhera Shaik formed the All India Mahila Empowerment Party in 2017.

National and States Political Parties

To read and obtain more data, please visit:

At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25

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