In the 17th Lok Sabha, 36 parties were represented in the 543-member House.

As many as 41 political parties will have representation in the upcoming 18th Lok Sabha, with this number rising from 36 in the 17th Lok Sabha that was dissolved on Wednesday, post-poll data shows.

The two largest outfits – the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress – will have 339 MPs in the 543-member House (BJP: 240, Congress: 99). The BJP, which fell 32 seats short of what would have been its third consecutive single-party majority (282 seats in 2014, and 303 in 2019), the Congress increased its tally from 44 seats in 2014 and 52 five years later.

The BJP, however, is set to form its third successive government at the Centre with help of its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners – Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to take oath on June 8 for what will be his third consecutive term in office. The NDA parties won 293 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress-led INDIA bloc, on the other hand, will have 233 MPs, with Samajwadi Party (SP), the grand old party's Uttar Pradesh-based ally, winning 37 seats in the country's most populous state, making the Akhilesh Yadav-led party the largest after the BJP and Congress. The SP is followed by fellow INDIA members: West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (29 seats) and the DMK (22 seats), which governs Tamil Nadu.

National parties to have 64% seats

According to an analysis by the think-tank PRS, political outfits recognised as “national parties” secured 346 or 64% seats, while regional parties won 197 (33%) seats.

Candidates from non-NDA/INDIA parties clinched 17 seats, including seven by independents.

As per Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a poll rights body, the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections were contested by 751 parties, up 104% from 2009, when nominees from 368 parties were in the fray.

The number of parties that contested in 2014 and 2019 was 464 and 677, respectively, ADR said.