Encyclopedia > Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra)
DSP-meeting in Kolkata
Democratic Socialist Party is a social democratic political party in India. The party is almost completely limited to West Bengal. The party was formed when the Bengali socialists, that had been part of Janata Party, were divided in two in the beginning of the 1980s. The other faction became the West Bengal Socialist Party.
DSP is part of the Left Front-government in West Bengal. The party leader Prabodh Chandra Sinha, is Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in the state government. Sinha was elected to the state assembly in 2001 as an independent candidate from the constituency Egra. At that time DSP was not registered at the Election Commission of India. Now the party has once again registered, under the name Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra).
This recognition helps the political parties to claim unique ownership of certain identities, such as the party symbol, until the next review of their status.
Consequently, political parties in India are classified as national and state (regional) parties based on their realms of influence.
Parties that have received certain amount of votes or seats in a state might be recognized as a state party by the Election Commission.