COALITION GOVERNMENT - INDIA

A government formed by a number of political parties instead of just one political party is called a ‘coalition government’.

The party that has secured the largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha (House of People), after the elections, forms the new government.

In a complex socio-political environment, peoples choices and affiliations vary and thus votes get distributed among a number of political parties. In such cases the leading party allies with other parties that have also won a sizable number of seats, thereby securing a majority of seats in the Lok Sabha. Once the coalition alliance has numerical strength in the Lok Sabha, it is invited by the President of India to form the Union Government and the coalition’s selected nominee is made Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is generally a prominent leader of the party with the largest number of seats in the coalition.

There are two types of coalition alliances

1.       Pre-Poll Alliance – formed when political parties declare their support to a coalition even before the election has taken place

2.       Post-Poll Alliance – formed after the election when political parties, alarmed by their few political gains, come together to form the government

Governance reformers have suggested that the Election Commission of India should ban post poll alliances and make it mandatory for political parties to declare their affiliations through pre-poll alliances so that voters can make informed choices at the polls.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate, reducing the dominance of any one party within that coalition. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament. However, a coalition government may also be shaped in time of a national complexity or crisis. If a coalition collapses, a confidence vote is assumed or a motion of no confidence is passed.

India’s first ever coalition government was formed under the Prime Ministership of Morarji Desai. It existed from 24^th March 1977 to 15 July 1979 and was headed by the Janata Party.

The first successful coalition government in India to complete the whole tern of five years was the BJP led National Democratic Alliance with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister from 1999-2004.

Another coalition, the UPA headed by the Congress, consisting of 13 separate parties ruled India for two terms from 2004 – 2014.

LEVELS OF COALITION

Coalition can take place at one of the three levels

           1.    Electoral: This coalition occurs when two or more parties contest elections together to fight against a common enemy. This may range from electoral alliance between parties at the National level to a mere understanding at the constituency level.

2.    Parliamentary- This coalition occurs when no single party gains a majority and the party asked the party asked to form the Government refers to rule as a minority Government on an agreement on an understanding with another external support.

3.    Governmental- The Governmental coalition is a 'power sharing' coalition and it occurs when two or more parties, none of which is able to win a majority of its own, combine to form a majority Government.

MERITS OF COALITION GOVERNMENT

• -          Coalition does not offer one party with the authority to put into practice their ideas.
• -          A coalition government is a partnership between parties and both parties will be treated equal.
• -          More minds are involved in decision making in a coalition government

DEMERITS OF COALITION GOVERNMENT

• -          Coalition parties produce unsteadiness within the coalition government
• -          It is difficult to attain true harmony among different political parties
• -          Each political party has the difficulty of intra conflicts. It is not easy to keep all the displeased party members happy. 

LANDMARKS IN INDIAN ELECTORAL PROCESS

1952
FIRST GENERAL ELECTIONS (1951-52)

The first general elections to Lok Sabha were held in 1951-52. It was a historic event and attracted world wide attention. India had emerged as the world's largest democracy with 173 million voters made eligible through Universal Adult Franchise. The conduct of First General Election was a mammoth exercise with 2,24,000 polling booths to record votes for 491 Lok Sabha and 3,283 Assembly seats. There were about 1,800 candidates for the Lok Sabha seats and another 15,000 for the State Legislative Assembly. Apart from the independents, there were 70 political parties. The political parties were big as well as small, national as well as regional, moderate and extremist, rightest and leftist.

Indian National Congress, which had all these years been in the thick of the nation's struggle for Independence bagged 364 out of the total of 491 seats for the Lok Sabha. The party had secured only 45% of the total votes cast and yet managed to bag 74.5% of the Lok Sabha seats.

The overall voting percentage was about 46 although in some constituencies, upto 80% turn out had been recorded. Election clashes were almost unknown at that time.

Illiteracy had been a great retarding factor so far as voters turn-out was concerned but canvassing had been made easy by adopting the practice of each party being assigned an election symbol. The voter may not have been able to read the name of the candidate of his or her choice but could identify the symbol with ease.

1977
SIXTH LOK SABHA ELECTIONS (1977)

The country had its first taste of Emergency in 1975. Indian voters expressed their contempt for this measure by rejecting the Congress under Smt. Indira Gandhi at the 1977 polls. She lost the election and her party was voted out of power at the center. A new party Janata Party came into existence with the merger of Congress (o), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal, Socialist and the Congress for Democracy. The Janata Party contested the elections under a common symbol (man with a plough inside the wheel) and captured 295 seats. The Janata party had obtained 43.17% of the popular votes cast for the 540 member Lok Sabha.

1989
NINTH LOK SABHA ELECTIONS (1989)

Soon after assumption of office, the young Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi showed inclination to do away with the power brokers in the Congress Party and introduced a measure of professional management in party affairs. However, the odds were too heavy against him. Money was needed to run the party and whoever gave it, expected out of turn favours. New tactics were tried to get money and as alleged through cuts in government deals with foreign firms. one such deal which cost the Congress its next term was the 'Bofor's' deal. Corruption in high places became the main issue this time.

V.P. Singh, former Minister in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet left the Congress (I) party and formed the Jan Morcha with the help of a few senior colleagues. The National Front led by him was voted to power with parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communists leanding support from outside the government since it did not command an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha.

The government led by V. P. Singh did not last long Inner dissensions led to BJP withdrawing its support and he was replaced by Chandra Shekar as the Prime Minister even though his splinter group commanded an insignificant strength in the Lok Sabha. Even this arrangement collapsed and finally when the Congress (I) too declined to support the government, he submitted the resignation of this government leading to another General Election to the Lok Sabha. 

FEDERALISM AND THE INDIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

Federalism is a system in which political power is divided between a central (national) government and smaller governmental units, states or provinces. The division of power is usually defined in a Constitution.

Federal system of government differs from unitary system. In a unitary system, all power legally derives from the Central Government. States of provinces have only those powers that the Central Government gives them. Some nations that appear to use the federal system really use the unitary system. Their provinces are administrative units rather than political units with separate powers.

In a true federal system, some powers are constitutionally reserved for the states of provinces. The Central Government has direct authority over the people concerning powers granted to it in the constitution. This distinguishes a federal system from a loose grouping of states, commonly called a confederation. A confederation can only act through its individual member states.

THE INDIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

India has a parliamentary system of government. Parliament meets at New Delhi, the capital of India. It consists of Lok Sabha (House of the People) and Rajya Sabha (Council of States). The Prime Minister is the leader of the political party that has the most seats in Parliament. The President appoints the Prime Minister to office. The Prime Minister chooses a Cabinet and heads the government with the support of Parliament. If Parliament withdraws its support, the President either dismisses the Prime Minister or dissolves the Lok Sabha and calls a new election. The President is elected by Parliament and all the state legislatures to a five year term.

Representatives of the state and territories make up Parliament. The number of representatives from each increases or decreases as the population of the state or territory changes. Most of the 544 members of the Lok Sabha are elected by the voters. They serve five year terms, unless the Lok Sabha is dissolved. Most of the 244 member Rajya Sabha are elected by state legislatures. They serve six year terms and one third are elected every two years. A few members of each body are appointed by the President.

A Supreme Court heads India's court / legal system. Each state in India has a High Court and various lower courts.