National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is an Indian political alliance made up of predominantly right-wing political parties and led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the Indian union government as well as the government of 18 Indian states.
Its first chairman was Prime Minister 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%. Its leader, Narendra Modi, was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. In the 2026 general election, the alliance further increased its tally to 353 seats with combined vote share of 45.43%.
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 CM of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu was made the NDA convener.
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.
Current governments
BJP (12) Coalition with BJP (6) INC (3) Coalition with INC (3) Other Parties (AAP, AITC,CPI(M), TRS, YSRCP) (5) President’s Rule (1) Without Legislature (5)
The BJP has previously been the sole party in power in Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan. It has also ruled Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Odisha,Andhra Pradesh as part of coalition and alliance governments.
The BJP has never been in power in 3 states – Kerala, Telangana, (between 1999 and 2004 BJP in alliance with TDP ruled a United Andhra Pradesh) and West Bengal. But BJP led NDA has ruled many local governing institutions including corporations, municipalities, panchayats and has also been elected to many Lok Sabha constituencies, state assembly constituencies and local body divisions and wards in these 3 states.