election results: Kicheril Raman NARAYANAN elected president; percent of electoral college vote - NA%; Krishnan KANT elected vice president; percent of Parliament vote - NA%; Atal Behari VAJPAYEE elected prime minister; percent of vote - NA%
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament or Sansad consists of the Council of States or Rajya Sabha (a body consisting of not more than 250 members, up to 12 of which are appointed by the president, the remainder are chosen by the elected members of the state and territorial assemblies; members serve six-year terms) and the People's Assembly or Lok Sabha (545 seats; 543 elected by popular vote, 2 appointed by the president; members serve five-year terms)
elections: People's Assembly - last held 5 September through 3 October 1999 (next to be held NA 2004)
election results: People's Assembly - percent of vote by party - BJP alliance 40.8%, Congress alliance 33.8%, other 25.4%; seats by party - BJP alliance 304, Congress alliance 134, other 107
Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president and remain in office until they reach the age of 65)
Political parties and leaders: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam or AIADMK [C. Jayalalitha JAYARAM]; All India Forward Bloc
or AIFB [Prem Dutta PALIWAL (chairman), Chitta BASU (general
secretary)]; Asom Gana Parishad [Prafulla Kumar MAHANTA]; Bahujan
Samaj Party or BSP [Kanshi RAM]; Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP
[Bangaru LAXMAN, president]; Biju Janata Dal or BJD [Naveen
PATNAIK]; Communist Party of India or CPI [Ardhendu Bhushan
BARDHAN]; Communist Party of India/Marxist-Leninist or CPI/ML [Vinod
MISHRA]; Congress (I) Party [Sonia GANDHI, president]; Dravida
Munnetra Kazagham or DMK (a regional party in Tamil Nadu) [M.
KARUNANIDHI]; Indian National League [Suliaman SAIT]; Janata Dal
(Secular) [H. D. Deve GOWDA]; Janata Dal (United) or JDU [Sharad
YADAV, president, I. K. GUJRAL]; Kerala Congress (Mani faction) [K.
M. MANI]; Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or MDMK [VAIKO];
Muslim League [G. M. BANATWALA]; Nationalist Congress Party or NCP
[Sharad PAWAR]; National Democratic Alliance, a 16-party alliance
including BJP, DMK, Janata Dal (U), SHS, Shiromani Akali Dal, Telugu
Desam, BJD, Rinamool Congress]; Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD [Laloo
Prasad YADAV]; Revolutionary Socialist Party or RSP [Tridip
CHOWDHURY]; Samajwadi Party or SP [Mulayam Singh YADAV, president];
Shiromani Akali Dal [Prakash Singh BADAL]; Shiv Sena [Bal
THACKERAY]; Tamil Maanila Congress [G. K. MOOPANAR]; Telugu Desam
Party or TDP (a regional party in Andhra Pradesh) [Chandrababu
NAIDU]; Trinamool Congress [Mamata BANERJEE]
Political pressure groups and leaders: numerous religious or militant/chauvinistic organizations, including Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; various separatist groups seeking greater communal and/or regional autonomy, including the All Parties Hurriyat Conference
International organization participation: AfDB, ARF (dialogue
partner), AsDB, ASEAN (dialogue partner), BIS, C, CCC, CP, ESCAP,
FAO, G- 6, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU,
ICRM, IDA, IEA (observer), IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU,
MINURSO, MIPONUH, MONUC, NAM, OAS (observer), OPCW, PCA, SAARC, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK,
UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador
Naresh CHANDRA
chancery: 2107 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; note - Embassy located at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008