The drama over the resignation of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar as president of the party has highlighted a structural flaw in political parties in India. Barring the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a handful of others, most parties in the world’s largest democracy tend to be predicated on authoritarian structures dominated either by one leader or one family. Mr Pawar, 82, is reportedly seeking to avoid a split in the party and has forwarded the claims of his daughter, Supriya Sule, to take over in preference to his ambitious nephew Ajit Pawar. The NCP is the largest Opposition party in Maharashtra, and this destabilising controversy involves an intra-family power struggle in an electorally significant state ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections. In Karnataka, where Assembly elections are due on May 10, the electorate is witnessing an unseemly battle within the Janata Dal (S), a family enterprise presided over by former Prime Minister H