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Coalition Government in India : a Critical Analysis

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Coalition Government in India : a Critical Analysis Indian J. Soc.& Pol. 04(02):2017:23-26 ISSN 2348-0084(P) ISSN 2455-2127(O) COALITION GOVERNMENT IN INDIA : A CRITICAL ANALYSIS KUSUM LATA1 1Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science,Government Girls College Bhilwara, Rajasthan, India ABSTRACT Present research paper provides an overview of the functioning of coalition governments in the country and understanding of the system of coalition and an evaluation of its implications for society with an Indian Experience. Coalition Politics is based on a system of governance by a group of political parties or by several political parties. After general election, when there is no party in a position to get a majority in the parliament and some parties Form a coalition alliance. Thus this government is said a coalition Government. KEY WORDS : Congress, Centre Coalition, Democracy, Election Government, India, Nation, Politics State, Union, Provinces, Parliament. INTRODUCTION for at least two of the players (or actors) the possibility that they can do better by co-coordinating their resources India is the largest demo-critic country in the than by acting alone (Ram 2007). world. Indian political system is a multiparty system. There are so many national and regional parties. They COALITION GOVERNMENT IN INDIA participant in general election. Political parties are The congress party, though recognized as the indispensable to any democratic system. They play the Leviathan of Indian politics, emerged as the torch bearer most important role in the Electoral process in setting up of the national movement largely as a coalitional force. It candidates and conducting election campaigns. The brought within its fold various multitudes of different parliamentary democracy consists of an elected political shades and leadership with the singular objective representative parliament which is supreme, a cabinet of redeeming the country of imperialist hegemony of the collectively responsible to parliament, a prime minister British. who I supreme within the cabinet and an organized opposition within the parliament. It was assumed that the In the pre- partition days under the colonial yoke, majority would form the government and the minority perhaps the first example of coalitional government was would function as the opposition. Problems arose when occasioned in 1937 when the Government of India act of no party could secure enough majority to form a single 1935 provisions became operative. The congress party party government and in such circumstances the secured a clear majority in many regions such as in the alternative was the coalition or multiparty government central provinces, Orissa, Bihar, Madras and the united (Rajan 2009). provinces. In the presidency of Bombay although the congress won half the seats and could count the support of The term coalition has been derived from the the other parties, including a tacit support of the Muslim Latin word “Coalition” meaning to go or to grow league, its bête noire, a Coalition government could not together. Thus interpreted the term coalition means an act be formed because the congress refused to share power of Coalescing or uniting into one body or alliance. It is the with the Muslim league (Kashyap 1997). combination of a number of bodies or parts into one body or whole. In the political sense the term coalition is use In 1946, the interim government under the for an alliance or temporary union between various stewardship of Nehru who became its formal head as the political groups for the exercise or control of political prime minister was the first formal coalition consisting of power. A coalition has been defined as the joint use of the congress, Muslim league, the Hindu Mahasabha resources to determine the outcome of a mixed motive among others (Karunkaran, 1975). This was a formal situation involving more than two units. Gam-son further coalition Government before independent India. defined "There is an element of conflicts since there exists 1:Corresponding Author LATA: COALITION GOVERNMENT IN INDIA : A CRITICAL ANALYSIS After independence, the credit for having first Y.B. Chavan, (the leader of the congress ever coalition under the present constitution goes to what parliamentary party), was then called by President N. was then the PEPSU state. As no party could get a Sanjeeva Reddy to form the government. Being unable to majority in the state assembly in the first election of 1952, secure a majority, the congress declined the offer. The a Coalition of non congress parties was formed in April, president then invited Charan Singh who felt confident to 1952 (Chander, 2004). getting external support from the congress. Charan Singh was asked to prove his majority in the house at the earliest The erstwhile states of Travancore Cochin and possible opportunity within three weeks time. On 20 PEPSU were the first two states in the country to form August, 1979 he submitted his resignation. Imation coalition governments after the first state legislative without even moving the confidence motion, having assembly elections in December 1951 – January 1952. In failed to ensure the support at the Congress. On 22 1967, 8 states formed non congress coalition August, 1979 the president dissolved the Lok Sabha and government's viz., Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, ordered fresh elections Charan Singh Government U.P. M.P. Bihar and Orissa of these states (Singh et al, continued as caretaker (Dodd, 1976). 2007, Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar an Orissa had fragmented assemblies after the 1967 general elections. In Third Coalition Government was formed on 2nd Haryana, U.P, M.P. congress party formed its own December 1989 by Shri V.P. Singh. This coalition was governments but they fell due to defection of members. called the National Front-consisting of Janata Dal, TDP, This renal continued although some of the above state DMK. AGP. The BJP and left parties supported the went back to single party congress governments. National from Government. V.P. Singh Government could not complete even a year in office. The egoistic Coalition experiment at the centre can be traced personality clashes within the Janata Dal, the to the first non-congress government led by the Janata implementation of Mandal commission recommendations Party(s) (1977-80). The Janata party was the off spring of for central government jobs, halting the Rath Yatra of the continuous struggles made by the opposition parties to Shri L.K. Advani a coupled with other issues created a pull down the congress from power. Frustrated by the serious blow to the survival of national front Government. authoritarianism of the congress during the Emergency Following the withdrawal of support by the BJP, the (1975-77), certain opposition parties and groups decided national front government headed by Shri V.P. Singh had to fight the nest general elections under a common banner lost majority support in the Lok Sabha. However, he and thus provide an alternative to the congress on the refused to resign and instead offered to prove his majority initiative given by Jayaprakash Narayan who provide on the floor of the House. When put to vote the motion of moral leadership to Indian Politics at the time, the confidence was defeated by 356 to 151 Votes with 6 congress (0), the Jan Sangh, the socialist party and the members abstaining. Bharatiya Lok Dal came together to undertake the challenge (Chakrabarthy, 2006). All these parties came The splitters up group of Janata Dal headed by together to contest the election under a single common Shri Chandra Sekhar with 54 members in the Lok Sabha manifesto and symbol. formed the fourth coalition government at centre on the 10th November, 1990 with an outside support of the The general elections were held during March, congress (I) party. But it was also an unstable and short- 1977. Sixth Lok Sabha gave surprise to country by lived coalition, which lasted only a few months (Chandra, defeating Congress the as well as its leader Mrs. Gandhi 2006). at the hustling. Then Morarji Desai was elected leader and was sworn in as prime minister on 24 March, 1977, the In the next election held in May-June, 1991, the other two felt betrayed. And factionalism continued even congress (I) emerged as the largest single party with 224 after the formation of the government. After sometime seats, but Narasimha Rao formed the government and there was a conflict in the party with the decision to have surprisingly he could complete the five year term. two deputy prime minister. It was in these circumstances After the 1996 Lok Sabha Poll, Shri Atal Bihari that the congress party had brought a no- confidence Vajpayee, the leader of the single largest party, was motion against Morarji ministry and got it passed. On 15 invited by the president of India to form the government July, 1979 Morarji Desai submitted his resignation. at the centre. Following an invitation, Shri A.B. Vajpayee Following the Ministry's fall Charan Singh left the party formed the fifth Coalition government on 16th May, 1996 and formed a separate Janata Party(s). 24 Indian J Soc & Pol 04(02):2017:23-26 LATA: COALITION GOVERNMENT IN INDIA : A CRITICAL ANALYSIS and asked to prove his majority on the floor of the House government has successfully completed 5 year of its by 31st May, 1996. The debate on the motion of journey on 13th May 2009 (Sahni, 1971). confidence was held on 27th and 28th may, 1996 and the The 2009 election results were in a way a B.J.P. failed to get the required support A.B. Vajpayee watershed in the history of Indian elections. They were resigned from Prime minister-ship without facing a vote unexpected to must parties including the congress. They on his motion (Singh and Mishra, 2004).
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