Official Opposition (India)


Official Opposition is a term used in Parliament of India and State Legislatures to designate the political party which has secured the second largest number of seats in either upper or lower houses. In order 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. A single party has to meet the 10% seat criterion, not an alliance. Many of the Indian state legislatures also follows this 10% rule while the rest of them prefer single largest opposition party according to the rules of their respective houses.

Role

The Opposition’s main role is to question the government of the day and hold them accountable to the public. 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, Opposition Party has a major role, which is:
Constructive criticism of government.
Putting restriction of arbitrariness of ruling party.
Safeguarding liberty and right of people.
Preparation to form government.
Expression of public opinion.

Current official opposition parties

Parliament

This is the list of current opposition parties in the Parliament of India:
HousePartySeatsTotal seats
Lok SabhaN/A
–543
Rajya SabhaINC46245

Legislative Assemblies

This is the list of current opposition parties in the Legislative Assemblies of the Indian states and union territories:.
State/UTPartySeatsTotal seats
Andhra PradeshTDP22175
Arunachal PradeshN/A
–60
AssamINC24126
BiharRJD81243
ChhattishgarhBJP1490
DelhiBJP870
GoaINC540
GujaratINC73182
HaryanaINC3190
Himachal PradeshINC2168
Jammu and KashmirN/A
–85
JharkhandBJP2681
KarnatakaINC68224
KeralaINC2140
Madhya PradeshINC92230
MaharashtraBJP105288
ManipurINC1960
MeghalayaINC1960
MizoramZPM740
NagalandNPF2660
OdishaBJP23147
PuducherryAINRC733
PunjabAAP19117
RajasthanBJP72200
SikkimN/A
–32
Tamil NaduDMK100234
TelanganaN/A
–119
TripuraCPI1660
Uttar PradeshSP50403
UttarakhandINC1170
West BengalINC42294

Legislative Councils

This is the list of current opposition parties in the Legislative Councils of the Indian states:
  StatePartySeatsTotal seats
Andhra PradeshTDP2658
BiharRJD875
KarnatakaINC3775
MaharashtraBJP2278
TelanganaN/A
–40
Uttar PradeshSP55100