Democracy means more and more representation of people in the running of the government and opportunity to influence the government. As India is a federal state, more regional parties mean, more influence of state parties in national politics. The regional parties have a say in national policies as they win elections in their states. No single national party (from among the six in India) has been able to form a government on its own strength since 1996. They had to form alliances with the regional parties to form a coalition government at the Centre. This has strengthened federalism and democracy in our country.