The Era Of Coalition Politics

A coalition is created when two or more political parties agree to collaborate, generally for a single term, to achieve a mutual goal, such as forming a government with a majority. Political parties may form a coalition if they all want to protect the nation’s interest. An alliance of two or more parties is needed when a single party does not have a majority in the house. This is because of the many-party system in India.

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Federal Government of India and Coalitions

• Federalism is the type of political system regarding the distribution of power between the central government and the regions, respectively. Federalism is a word that comes from Latin and means an alliance between political forces. Federalism is a form of the political system in which two levels of government derive power from different sources. The formation of coalition governments in India is not new to the political system in India
• The upper-level government is the central state, and the lower level of government can be called a state. The centre needs to understand and negotiate with state governments when implementing policies
• Coalitions are temporary governments that come into power when many political parties work together. They’re created to deal with the complexities of democratic, multi-party systems. A coalition is formed with two or more parties who command a majority in the legislature

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Federalism And Coalition Government In India

• Nature of Indian Federalism: The Government of India Act, 1935, strongly influenced the development of the Indian federal system. According to Granville Austin, the Constitution of India embraced “cooperative federalism” from the beginning. The federal structure of India means that it is dependent on cooperation
• India had seen a flux in its party system since 1967, when coalitions began to be formed. With the change in government, new parties were born, and old ones disbanded. India changed to a coalition politics system with the introduction of regionalism. The coalition government in the centre indicates a significant shift in governance – both centralised and shared
• Regional parties exert more influence on the Indian government. This led to changes in regional-national relations. The coalition government has been the norm in all democracies for a long time now. Coalition governments are formed when coalitions of parties come together to form a government
• As opposed to single-party governments, coalition governments need to work together and be involved to make their laws and policies happen. This is because they don’t have enough seats for legislation they need on their own. They also need to be more inclusive and reach out to political parties that can help them get legislation passed

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Domination of Congress

• Following independence in 1947, the Indian National Congress emerged as the country’s leading national party. The domination of congress was evident during the post-independence period. In the debut general election, the party surged to victory in the federal parliament and most state legislatures conducted following independence in 1952
• The congress party ruled the country until 1977 when the Janata alliance replaced it. It regained power in 1980 and governed until it was defeated in 1989. The party led a coalition government to create the government in 1991 and the United Progressive Alliance in 2004 and 2009

The Decline of Congress and Rise of Coalition Governments

• After the untimely demise of Jawaharlal Nehru, followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi was appointed as the Prime Minister of the country in 1966
• The Allahabad High Court ruled on June 12, 1975, that Indira Gandhi’s reelection to the Lok Sabha in 1971 was invalid due to electoral fraud. After nearly four years, the court held her convicted of deceptive electoral methods, high election spending, and improper government resources for political reasons
• The court ruled that her parliamentary seat be vacated and barred from competing for any office for the next six years.She could no longer hold the office since the constitution mandates the Prime Minister to represent either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. Gandhi, on the other hand, refused to resign
• Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India, fearing her removal from the post of Prime Minister. In 1977, Gandhi announced elections to offer the voters an opportunity to defend her leadership
• After Gandhi removed the State of Emergency, the Janata coalition, led by Morarji Desai, rose to power. Under the leadership of Gandhian leader Jayaprakash Narayan, the allied parties subsequently united to become the Janata Party. This began the era of coalition politics by the formation of a coalition government in India
• Following 1989 no single party received most votes or seats in any Lok Sabha election conducted between 1989 and 2014. This ushered in an era of coalition governments at the centre, with regional parties playing a critical role in building major coalitions

India is a country with a wide range of cultures. Different communities, dialects, castes, faiths, and geographic divisions exist. This implies that the coalition government is more inclusive and represents the popular sentiment of voters. However, coalition governments are unsteady or liable to become unstable. The coalition government falls apart due to disagreements among alliance members.

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