Multi-Party
Coalitions
Coalition Government in India: Towards a Multi-Party Democracy
INTRODUCTION
A coalition government
in a parliamentary system is a government in which multiple political parties
cooperate, reducing the dominance of any one party within that ‘coalition’. The
usual reason for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a
majority in the parliament. A coalition government might also be created in
time of national difficulty or crisis, for more example
during wartime, to give a government the high degree of perceived political
legitimacy it diminishing interval political strife. In such times, parties
have formed all party coalition (national unity government grand coalition) If
a coalition collapses, a confidence vote is held or a motion of no confidence
is taken.1
Coalition government has
been formed at different time intervals in many in developed and developing
countries. Coalitions signify the fragmentation of the popular mandate to an
extent that no single party is in a position to secure a majority in the
legislature. In this situation a number of smaller parties join hands to form
the government. A coalition government thus implies an agreement between two or
more parties for sharing power. Coalition are thus based on expediency and
ostensible formed for the purpose of sharing power.2
Professor ogg defines coalition in the encyclopedia of social sciences,” as a co-operative
agreement under which distinct political parties, or at all events members of
such parties form a government ministry.
Main reason for
formation of coalition in the different countries is:-
No single political
party is able to secure a working majority in the popular house on account of
the presence of multi-party system. Under which circumstances, a number of
like- minded parties from the coalition to provide a workable majority and run
the government -3
COALITION GOVERNMENT IN INDIA
A.-First
phase – (1952-1967) congress dominance:-
In India, the trend is
now towards a politics of coalition. The Indian experience
with the coalition government both in the states and center.
However suggest a more differentiated and complex set of findings. In India,
the parliamentary system has become respective mainly because with the
emergence of coalition government. 4
After Independence, the
congress continued to enjoy the support of all sections of society for a
considerable period of time. The whole period of Jawaharlal Nehru is to be
considered as a single party dominance and often to be known as congress
system.
The congress won the
first Parliamentary general election by a huge margin held in 1952. The
congress won 364 seats out of 489. Its nearest rival, the CPI could manage only
16 seats. The result of the first general election did not surprise anyone. The
Indian National congress was expected to win this election. The congress party,
as it was popularly known had inherited the legacy of the National Movement. In the second and third general elections, held in 1957 and 1962
respectively. The congress maintained the same position in the Lok Sabha by winning three-
fourth of the seats. In the first decade of electoral competition the congress
acted both as the ruling party as well as the opposition this is why this
period of Indian politics has been described as the ‘congress system’
As we have noted above,
it is not that India did not have opposition parties during this period. Even
then India had a large number of divers and vibrant opposition parties than
many other multi party democracies. All these opposition parties succeded in gaining only a token
representatives in lok sabha
and state assemblies during this period. Yet their presence played a crucial
role in maintaining the democratic character of the system. This kept the
ruling party under check and often changed the balance of power within the
congress.
B. Second
Phase (1967-1977) towards multi-party system and coalition government
: fourth general elections 1967:-
The year 1967 is
considered a land mark year in India’s political and electoral history. In
first three general elections congress party was the dominating party
throughout the country from 1952 onwards. This trend was to undergo significant
changes with the 1967 elections. Particularly after the fourth general
elections of 1967, coalition politics begin to emerge as an alternative
political arrangement for democratic government after non congress parties form. Coalition ministers in several states. 5
After 1967, a systematic
change involving both societal process and organizational manifestation of this
change is the break down of one
party dominance at the center and its
replacement by a multi-party coalition.
1967 marks a change in
Indian politics which led to change in the character of party system then
obtaining in India. No particular party claimed absolute majority at any level
of political structure with the result that the model of Intra-Party (tacit or
implied) coalition was replaced by inter-party (express or formal) coalition
system. The congress vote dropped from almost 5 percent
and while it had held 74 percent of the seats in the
previous parliament, it now managed to win only 54 percent.
Even more stunning was the number of seats in which it failed to win a majority
(or lost it because of defections soon after the elections), there were as many
as nine states – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Prades,
Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala which now had non- congress
governments. This brought in a completely new situation in Indian politics
whereby opposition parties in some states experimented with coalition politics
and government formations.[6]
Opposition parties were
in the forefront of organizing public protests and pressurizing the government.
Parties opposed to the congress realized that the division of their votes kept
the congress in power. Thus parties that were entirely different and disparate
in their programs and ideology got together to form anti- congress fronts in
some states and entered into electoral adjustments of sharing seats in others.
They felt that the inexperience of Indira Gandhi and the internal factionalism
within the congress provided them an opportunity to topple the congress. The
socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia
gave this strategy the name of ‘Non- Congressism.
This result jolted the congress at both the national and state level. Many
contemporary political observers described the elections result as political
earthquake. Half the ministers in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet were defeated. The
congress lost majority in many states also.
The election of 1967
brought into picture the phenomenon of coalitions. Since no single party had
got majority various non-congress parties came together to form joint
legislative parties (called Samyukt Vidhayak Dal) that supported non-congress government. The
SVD government in Bihar, for instance, included the two socialist parties- SSP
and the BSP along with the CPI on the left and the Jana Sangh
on the right. In Punjab it was called the “Popular United Front”.
C. Third
Phase (1977-Continuing): The Beginning of Formal Coalitions at the Center Level:-
The elections of 1977, mark the third phase in the evolution of India’s party
system and set the stage for the formation of the first coalitional government
at the center. At the general elections in 1977, the
congress secured only 154 seats (through they had fielded candidates in 492
constituencies of the Lok Sabha)
The Janata
experiment:- The turning point in
the history of coalition in India can be identified with the Janata party rule(1977 to 1979), which brought for the
first time, a group of non-congress parties to power at center.
This was a very historic movement for opposition parties which succeeded in
providing and alternative to the congress at the
national level. This experiment became catalysts in the democratization process
– strengthening and multi- party system, policy- making and power-sharing
processes. The Janata party captured 295 seats out of
540.Thus the 1977 elections was described as a
watershed and political earthquake in Indian politics. The Janata
leaders declared victory of democracy. But the inherent contradictions, within
the Janata party coalition soon appeared as a warning
to the existence of itself. Morarji Desai become the prime minister but that did not bring the power
struggle within the party to an end. The Janata party
split and the government which was led by Morarji
Desai lost its majority in less than 18 months. Another government headed by Charan Singh was formed on the assurance of the support of
the congress party. But the congress party later decided withdraw its support
with the result that the Charan Singh government
could remain in power just about four months.
Failure
of the Janata party coalition, ideological
differences and defections. The failure of the Janata was though not
unexpected significant. It brought into focus the importance of better
coordination in coalition government. But the main significance of the 1977
elections was that it introduced for the first time in India the idea of
coalitional government.
Post – Janata phase (strengthening of the coalition government
1989-2014):-
After experiencing the
taste of coalition government during 1977-1979, single party dominance again
appeared during 1980-1989. But after the 9th general elections of 1989,
situation change dramatically in favour of a coalition government at the center. Since 1987, four coalition government have been
formed an democratic principles. They are the following :-
• National
front government led by V.P. Singh (1989-1990)
• United
front government led by H.D. Deve Gowda
and I.K. Gujral (1996-1998)
• BJP led
coalition government headed Atal Bihari
Vajpayee and the majority coalition again led by the BJP after the 13th Lok sabha elections.
• United
progressive alliance – (may 2004-2009). United progressive alliance-
(2009-2014)
The
national front coalition:-
The ninth general elections of 1989 witness coalition government
which head emergence as third force thus strengthening the multi-party system.
In the poll (1989) verdict the congress was defeated by the two emerging
political forces- the BJP and National Front. All the opposition parties agreed
to get together to form a government under V.P. Singh in 1989. The left parties
and the BJP agreed to support the government from the outside.
But the national front
government failed to achieve its goal due to its minority status in parliament
and internal conflict. Although one of the major advantage of
this government experiment was the cultivation of a new hope for a new era of
coalition government.
The united
front government:-
For the first time, the
general election of 1996 resulted in a parliament which truly reflected the
national pluralism. There was not a single party which could claim absolute
majority as the basis to form the government. In the 11th Lok
sabha election BJP emerged as the largest party. But
after the collapse of 13 days BJP led coalition government in 1996, the united
front was invited to form the government. The united front was a coalition of
thirteen parties in which TDP, DMK, JD, CPI (M), CPI, TMC, AGP, and SP were the
main players. H.D. Deve Gowda
became the Prime Minister. But the congress withdrew its support to united
front in November 1977. The congress was said to be unhappy over its failure to
get share in government. After that I.K. Gujral
became the Prime Minister.
BJP –led
coalition government:
Both ‘12th and 13th Lok
to Sabha elections’ results provided opportunities
the largest political party –BJP to lead coalition
governments at the center. Improved status of BJP in
the 12th Lok Sabha election
results and the BJP’s conciliatory approach to regional parties further
strengthened ties between the BJP and many regional parties.
BJP formed The National
Democratic Alliance (NDA).The NDA is a coalition of high- learning political
parties in India. NDA included several regional parties, including the Samta Party and the AIADMK as well as Shiv Sena with outside support provided by the TDA, the NDA was
able to muster a slim majority in the election of 1998, and Atal
Bihari Vajpayee returned as Prime Minister .The
government collapsed within a year because of (AIADMK) withdrew its support
after the entry of a few more regional parties, the NDA proceeded to win the
1999 elections with a large majority, Vajpayee became Prime Minister for a
third time ,this time for a full five year term.
United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by congress:
The UPA is a coalition
of center– left political parties in India formed
after the 2004 general election. The largest member party of the UPA in the
Indian National Congress, whose former National President
Sonia Gandhi is chairperson of the UPA. It formed a government with support
from some other left – aligned parties in 2004.Manmohan Singh became the Prime
Minister (2004-2014).
Thus with the elections
of 1989 -2009, a long phase of coalition politics began in India. Since then, their have been eleven governments at the center, all of which have either been coalition governments
or minority governments supported by other parties which did not join the
government. In this phase, any government could be formed only with the
participation or support of many regional parties. This applied to the national
front in 1989, the united front in 1996 and 1997, the NDA in 1997, the BJP led
coalition in 1998, the NDA in 1999, the UPA in 2004 and 2009. However, this trend change in 2014.
CONCLUSION:-
It is generally
understood that in the parliamentary system of government one party get clear
majority to form the government. But it is not always so and many of the
countries in Europe have been having coalition government most of the time.
A coalition government
is generally more sensitive to the problems of the masses and is more
responsive to their needs. It has to be noted that the congress could drift
away from Gandhi’s ideals only because it was in a strong position most of the
time. It stopped caring for the poor, and even for the laws of the land. Nehru
had once remarked that even a lamp–post would win an election on congress
ticket. Similarly most of the disgraceful scams and gery incidents of the past. In a coalition
government there are several constituents which act as a check on extreme
actions