![An easy to understand guide to the symbols and national affiliation of key parties in the 2024 General Election in Mumbai.](http://media.assettype.com/homegrown%2F2024-05%2F3e90f411-6864-4301-a1c1-811c32685112%2FHomegrown_Hirings__1_.png?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
Indian politics is often a murky, chaotic, ever-changing landscape where allegiances can shift as quickly as they're made. For people outside the know, it can be an almost impossible task to keep track of which parties have joined hands and even which MPs have defected to political parties with different ideologies entirely.
That's why, ahead of the Mumbai phase of the 2024 General Elections, we've decided to put together a handy guide that covers the updated symbols of each key political party as well as the alliances that they represent. This guide was inspired and aided by information from influential Instagram page Andheri West Shit Posting.
The INDIA Alliance & The NDA
Led by the Indian National Congress, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is a coming together of India's biggest opposition parties, all of whom represent a united front against the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Last year saw the split of some key players, namely the Shiv Sena and the NCP, into two different factions that each claim to represent the 'genuine' version of each party.
Here's a quick cheat-sheet that explains exactly what the split means, what symbol each faction uses, and which national alliance they belong to.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray):
Party Symbol - A Flaming Torch
Alliance Affiliation - INDIA
Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde)
Party Symbol - A Bow & Arrow
Alliance Affiliation - NDA
NCP (Sharad Pawar)
Party Symbol - Hindustani-Syle Trumpet
Alliance Affiliation - INDIA
NCP (Ajit Pawar)
Party Symbol - Table Clock
Alliance Affiliation - NDA
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