New Delhi: There has been a rush for registration of political parties, with as many as 239 new ones enrolling themselves with the Election Commission between March 2014 and July this year, taking their number to 1,866.

Out of these, 56 are recognized as registered national or state parties, while the rest are “unrecognized, registered" parties. According to data complied by the commission, in the last general election in 2014, 464 political parties had fielded candidates. The data was shared with the law ministry for use in Parliament. The ministry’s legislative department is the administrative unit for the poll watchdog.

According to the Election Commission, there were a total of 1,593 such parties in the country as of 10 March 2014. Twenty-four more were registered between 11 March and 21 March. And by 26 March, 10 more had registered. This was days after the Lok Sabha polls were announced on 5 March.

The total number of political parties registered with the Election Commission in March last year stood at 1,627.

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