DISINTEGRATION OF PARTY SYSTEM IN INDIA

Submitted By: Submitted To:

Tushar Joshi Dr Avinash Samal

Roll No. 160 Hidayatullah National Law University

B.A. LL.B (Hons) Raipur

 Disintegration of Party System in India

DECLARATION

I, Tushar Joshi, hereby declare that, the project work entitled, ‗Disintegration of
Party System in India‘ submitted to H.N.L.U., Raipur is record of an original
work done by me under the able guidance of Dr.Avinash Samal, Faculty
Member, H.N.L.U., Raipur.

Tushar Joshi

Batch XI

Roll No. 160

21/09/2011

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 Disintegration of Party System in India

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the Almighty who gave me the strength to accomplish the project with sheer hard
work and honesty. This research venture has been made possible due to the generous co-
operation of various persons. To list them all is not practicable, even to repay them in words
is beyond the domain of my lexicon.
May I observe the protocol to show my deep gratitude to the venerated Faculty-in-charge Dr
Avinash Samal, for his kind gesture in allotting me such a wonderful and elucidating
research topic. Apart from that I would like to thank my friends Rajendran,Simranvir,
Pratibhanu, Kabeer amd Malay for their support and suggestions during the process of
making this project.

Tushar Joshi

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 Disintegration of Party System in India

Acronyms used:

I.N.C. – Indian National Congress

B.J.P. – Bhartiya Janta Party
U.P. – Uttar Pradesh
D.M.K. - Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam
B.S.P. – Bahujan Samaj Party
A.G.P. – Asom Ghana Parishad
N.D.A. – National Democratic Alliance
U.P.A. – United Progressive Alliance
P.M. – Prime Minister
J.D.(U) – Janta Dal (United)
L.D.F. – Left Democratic Front
U.D.F. – United Democratic Front
A.I.A.D.M.K. - All-India Anna Dravidra Munnetra Kazhagam
D.M.K. – Dravidra Munnetra Kazhagam

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 Disintegration of Party System in India

CONTENTS:

1. Declaration……………………………………………………………….1
2. Acknowledgements……………………………………………………....2
3. Acronyms Used…………………………………………………………..3
4. Introduction……………………………………………………………...4
5. Congress party and the era of one party dominance………………….7
6. 1967 elections as a setback for Congress……………………………….7
7. Emergence and Consolidation of Non-Congress Parties……………...8
8. Split in the party-beginning of disintegration………………………….8
9. Janta Party – A Failed political experience……………………………9
10. 1980’s – Period of political flux and the United Front Experiment….10
11. 1991 to 1999 – Minority Governments and Political Instability……...11
12. Post 1999 – Coalition Governments……………………………………13
13. Congress party and successive coalition governments………………...14
14. Post 2009: Assembly elections of 2010 and 2011………………………15
15. Impact of Coalition Politics……………………………………………...16
16. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..18
17. Bibliography……………………………………………………………..19

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 Disintegration of Party System in India

INTRODUCTION:

‘Short of a threat to the integrity of the national political system, the major threat comes
from the possibility of the disintegration of the governing party. That the stability of the
central government seems to depend so heavily on a single leader dominating a weak party
is a cause for concern.’

Weiner(1989)1

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word ‗disintegration‘ as ‗to break up into small parts‘.
Party system in India came into existence in the year 1885 when A.O. Hume established the
Indian National Congress. The party was basically established to act as a link between the
new emerging nationalists and the British regime. Though, over a period of years, the I.N.C.
became the strongest weapon in the hands of Indian Nationalists. A platform which brought
various sections of the society together and sought to resolve the differences between them.
The feeling of belongingness to a nation named India ultimately led to the independence of
the country on August 15, 1947.

The first general elections were held in the year 1952. The popularity gained by the I.N.C.
during period of freedom struggle led it to a landslide victory in the first general elections.
Until 1989, the Congress Party formed all governments, with the exception of a brief
interlude in 1977 to 1980, when it lost power to the Janata Party following the unpopular
Emergency. It was this period of Emergency when a new political thought gained popularity.
The atrocities faced by the people during this period led to emergence of J.P. Narayan as a
leader whose call for total revolution was responded by all sections of the society. Many of
the political parties existing today find their root in J.P. Narayan‘s movement.

Nevertheless, the key to Congress party‘s success lay in the fact that it had a large base of
voters. It had been able to represent various regional, religious, caste and ethnic issues which
formed a major proportion of voting population of India.

It was in the year 1967 that the first serious challenge came to the I.N.C. when the opposition
parties under a common banner of Samyukt Vidhayak Dal, won control over majority of
states in the Hindi belt. But it wasn‘t until late 1980‘s that a system of genuine multi-party

1
M.Weiner, The Indian Paradox: Essays in Indian Politics, New Delhi: Sage, 1989.

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system emerged in India. The reason being the fallout of various factions of the I.N.C. due to
the Indira Gandhi‘s desire to rule the I.N.C. and the rise of various regional parties and
parties like B.J.P. with national aspirations. Moreover there was emergence of ideologically
based parties, mostly on the left.

A shift in trust of people was seen as new emerging parties were now being seen as a means
to represent their issues. The Bhartiya Janta Party was mainly seen as a right wing political
party whose aim was to establish a Hindu state in India. The dalits and the Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled tribe people found solace in the Bahujan Samaj party. Thus each party had its
specific voter base with no specific party seen as a representative of the whole society.

The outcome has been a shift from a ‗single party dominant system‘ to a ‗multiparty
democracy‘. This raises the question as to whether such large multi-party coalitions are
functional from the point of view of political stability, governance, and economic growth ?

OBJECTIVES:

This project shall focus on:

The reasons behind the disintegration of political parties in India in relation to

breakdown of I.N.C. and emergence of new political thoughts.
The impact of the disintegration of party system and emergence of coalition politics.
Impact of coalition politics with reference to electoral data of previous elections.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

The research methodology used in this project is analytical and descriptive. Data has been
collected from various books, articles, papers and web sources.

SCOPE:

The scope of this topic would be limited to the breaking up of various political parties into
smaller fragments, emergence of new political parties and the impact of coalition politics on
Indian political system.

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► Congress party and the era of One Party Dominance :

The Indian National Congress was founded by A.O. Hume in Bombay in 1885. In the
beginning it was an elite organisation which became a mass organisation under the leadership
of Gandhi. It succeeded in bringing various sections of the Indian society in the Indian
National Movement. The clause of Provincial Representation under Government of India
Act, 1935 gave it some exposure in the art of governance. With the partition of the country in
1947, its main rival The Muslim League was removed from the electoral scene as its electoral
base shifted to newly created Pakistan. The politics for freedom struggle was now replaced
by politics for votes, this restricted the scope for many other political parties. Congress was
the only political party which had a vote bank across the nation. The multiplicity of parties,
the hold of the independents and the presence of elites like the former rulers of small
provinces in the I.N.C helped it win more than 70% seats in the elections held in 1952, 1957
and 1962. To enjoy the power, many small parties joined Congress. The I.N.C. was able to
draw practical support through the organisational structure built during the period of national
struggle.

Many smaller political parties refrained from merger during this period. Thus the opposition
remained unorganized during this period. Myron Weiner offered many reasons for this
situation. The first past the post simple majority voting system , ignorance to which provided
these parties with little political experience. Because of the unwillingness of these political
parties to form a consensus on various issues and come together for the mutual benefit of
both the parties. Many political parties were not even ready to work within a set
parliamentary framework and hoped to achieve power through revolutionary means.

► 1967 Elections as a setback for I.N.C.:

In the first three general elections the Congress enjoyed a majority with ¾ representation in
the Lok Sabha. It also went on to win all the state elections except a brief interlude in Kerala
during 1957-59. The reasons behind the retentiveness of Congress lay in its ability to hold
various sectional interests within one organisation. Congress retained power because it was
periodically undergoing change and alternation in parliamentary and government personnel.
The first major setback for congress came in the elections of 1967 when it was voted out of
power in 8 states and the majority in the Lok Sabha reduced to 50%.

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► Emergence and Consolidation of Non-Congress Parties:

This setback was a consequence of emergence of new political parties. Many of the party
leaders who were dissatisfied with the dominance of Nehru in the party went on to form
separate political parties. Namely J.B. Kriplani‘s Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, Acharya N.G.
Ranga‘s Krishikar Lok Party, Bangla Congress, Kerala Congress, Jan Congress party in
Orissa, Bhartiya Kranti Dal in U.P. etc. On the other hand, the political parties engaged in
opposition like the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, the Muslim League in Kerala, the
National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, D.M.K. in Tamil Nadu started gaining support.
A faction of Communist Party saw the dominance of Congress as a danger to the democracy
and formed Communist Party of India (Marxist) which went on to win elections in West
Bengal and Kerala within 3 years of its establishment in 1964.

The 60‘s and the 70‘s saw the consolidation of non-Congress parties. Opposition parties
forged alliances and formed governments in eight major states. Utkal Congress was
established by Biju Patnaik who advocated that it was the regional parties who could
represent the hopes and aspirations of people of a region. There was a massive defection from
Congress as the unsatisfied leaders had regional parties to look forward to. National and state
legislatures in India endured a wave of instability in the 1960s and 1970s, caused by nearly two
thousand cases of defection or floor-crossing by legislators who switched party allegiance between
elections.

► Split in Party - Beginning of the Disintegration:

Here we can observe a dominant party system giving way to a disintegrated political system.
The disintegrative role of factions in the party and the weaknesses in organisation had begun
to be observed. As a result of internal fight and dissatisfaction, the Congress split into two
parts in the year 1969. The new Congress being led by Mrs. Indira Gandhi and the old one by
S.Nijalingappa. The central leadership was unable to stop split due to internal factionalism in
the party. Though, the new Congress led by lndira Gandhi swept the parliamentary elections
of 1971 and assembly elections of 1972 in most of the states. The sixth general election in
1977 resulted in the defeat of the Congress Party and comfortable majority for the Janta
Party. The defeat of the Congress party was seen as a rejection of Indira Gandhi's style of
politics. After the defeat in 1977 election there was another split in the Congress Party. There
emerged two Congresses - one led by lndira Gandhi and the other led by Swaran Singh. This

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is how the congress led by lndira or the Congress (I) was born in 1978. Under Indira Gandhi,
the party became an extension of her personal rule, and alternative power centers within the
Congress were efficiently cut down. State party organizations withered, and with them the
traditional means for development of new leadership. 2 At the same time, the ascendance of
regional and social consciousness movements and their politicization began to unleash
divisive forces that had been kept in check by Nehru‘s stature and determined secularism.

As a result of reconfiguration of politics numerous small parties began to gain strength or

emerge: Shiv Sena (1966), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (1972), Manipur People‘s Party, Mizo
National Front (1965), J&K Panthers Party, Nagaland People‘s Party, Nagaland People‘s
Council, Sikkim Sangrama Parishad, Indian People‘s Front, etc. Due to the disintegration of
major regional parties different 20 splinter parties of SAD, DMK (the Anna DMK in 1972),
Republican Party of India and Kerala Congress began to appear. Caste demography became
coterminous with the geographical boundaries of States. This also contributed to the rise of
regional parties. We see this in the phenomena of the growth of non-Congress opposition and
regional parties in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, etc. Wherever the non-Congress regional parties already existed
(such as the SAD or the DMK) they got consolidated and quickly rose to power.

From 1967 onward, a consolidation of the non-Congress opposition took place, state-by-state,
in tandem with such consolidation in state assembly elections. This consolidation was the key
feature and driving force behind the disintegration of the national party system. But this
bipolar consolidation has been one of multiple bipolarities (for example, Congress-BJP,
Congress-Left, Congress-Regional Party, in different states), thereby contributing to
disintegartion at the national level.

► Janta Party- A failed political experience?

The agitations led by Jaiprakash Narayan, the imposition of Emergency between 1975-77 and
the formation of Janata Party government changed the history of politics in India forever. The
Janata Party was formed by the merger of different parties namely- Socialist Party, Bharatiya
Lok Dal, Bharatiya Jan Sangh and the Congress (O) – with long-standing mutual opposition
but now united in their will to defeat the Congress. The Congress for Democracy under the

2
Brass (1983) pointed out the disintegration of the Congress organisation as an institutionalized force at the
local level.

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leadership of Jagjivan Ram joined the party after the election. Although, the spirit of Anti-
Congressism in wake of emergency led to their victory, but it soon fizzled out .The tension
for division of ministeries between members of various parties surfaced out. Lack of party
spirit led to the fall of Janata Party government and the return to power of Congress in 1980
with 2/3 majority in the Lok Sabha. In wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984,
Congress gained sympathy votes in the elections and retained power till 1989.

► 1980’s – Period of political flux and the United Front Experiment:

Though the 80‘s was a relatively stable period in terms of political governance, there was an
ongoing entry of new political parties with new political thought in the scenario. As the
Janata Party began to fall apart, several new national and regional parties were born. The
most prominent among them being the Bhartiya Janata Party in 1980, with a political
ideology based upon principles of nationalism and national integration, democracy, positive
secularism, Gandhian socialism and value-based politics mainly being seen as a Hindu party.
The Bahujan Samaj Party founded by Kanshi Ram in 1984 began to take shape in the North
as the representative of the dalits, SC/ST and OBC population. New regional parties sprouted,
developed and captured power in States: such as the TDP (1983) in Andhra Pradesh and the
AGP (1985) in Assam.

United Front minority Government was thee first real coalition Government at the Centre as
the Janata Government was a coalition Government by Proxy and Charan Singh led coalition
Government Lok Dal and Congress (S) fell before proving its majority in the Lok Sabha. The
United Front experiment, through which the left, regional and minor parties came to the
centre stage of Indian politics and were called upon to play an important role in running the
government, heralded new patterns of party competition. For the first time, the system
realized the value of regional and minor parties in deciding who‘s the government will be. As
the importance of these regional parties increased, these demanded more autonomy for the
state governments. This led to independent working of state governments.

1989 marked the collapse of the Congress dominance at the national level, and it never
recovered afterwards. At this point of time, we saw the emergence of bipolar system in the
States and at the Centre. While in the States it is in the form of a competition between two
parties or between two competing alliances, at the national level it was mainly a competition

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between competing alliances. As the BJP gained strength, the effort by the Janata Dal and
other regional parties of the United Front to work with the third alternative (to the Congress
and the BJP) proved to be in vain. The tri-nodal party system that raised hopes in the 1990s
slowly melted away.

The intense competition for leadership within Janta Dal finally led to the split in Janta Dal.
The newly formed Janata Dal (S) formed an minority Government led by Chandra Shekhar
with the outside support of Congress after the National Front Government was defeated in the
confidence vote in the Lok Sabha after the withdrawal of support of BJP. Janata Dal (S)
minority Government fell as Congress withdrew its support in 1991.

► 1991 to 1999-Minority Governments and Political Instability:

In 1991 Lok Sabha election there was a triangular battle among the Congress (I), the Janata
Dal-National Front combine and the BJP. The Congress (I) won 232 seats. Rajiv Gandhi was
killed during electoral campaign. P.V.Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister. The
Congress government of 1991-96 was the first minority government in the history of India to
complete a full term. The elections in 1991 had produced a 'hung' Lok Sabha. Congress
emerged as the largest party but nowhere near the majority mark. With no coalitions being
possible, Congress formed a minority Government led by Narasimha Rao. The minority
Government displayed a great skill in Parliamentary Manoeuvres in order to stay in power.
After effecting a split in the Janata Dal in its favour as well as victories in the by elections the
Government was able to secure a majority of its own.

3
‗The fragmentation of political parties and the quality of Indian democracy‘ by Andrew Wyatt

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The assembly elections between 1993 to 1995 decisively brought to an end the one party
dominant multi-party system4 of an earlier era. Congress no longer remained the core around
which the party system was structured. These elections marked the intensification of the
process of bipolar consolidation all over the Country barring few States like Kerala and West
Bengal where coalition politics still survived. Thus in as many as twelve States, non-
Congress Government ruled by the end of 1995.With the effective marginalization of the
Congress from the real arena of competition in U.P. and Bihar - the two largest States - it was
now obvious that Congress on its own could no longer hold its position in the centre of the
Indian political system. With the emergence of distinct regional party systems in the States
signalled the rise of parties like B.S.P., T.D.P, A.G.P, D.M.K., Akali Dal at the regional level,
the Congress was now one of the many parties with a position in several of those regional
systems. It was no longer a pole against which every political formation was defined 5. Even
in those States where there was a direct race between the Congress and its rival, the Congress
was no longer the natural party of governance.
The defining principles of the party—socialism and secularism—were no longer as attractive
an electoral slogan in the current political environment of sharpened social divisions. The
absence of an ideological niche, along with atrophy in the party‘s organizational machine,
provoked a wave of defections and the formation of break-away groups in the regional cadres
of the party. In 1997 half of the party‘s parliamentary members defected to the BJP in the
politically important state of Uttar Pradesh (UP); in 1998 Mamata Banerjee set up an
independent party in Bengal (the Trinamul Congress); and in 1999 the Maharashtra state
party cadre split.
Although the Congress Party has historically been faction-ridden, the disintegration of the
party indicated a more fundamental crisis in its identity and organization.

The above tendencies were confirmed in the parliamentary elections of 1996. The BJP made
a strong showing in the Northern and Western States especially in Bihar and U.P. and
emerged as the largest party in the Lok Sabha. The party formed a minority Government
which lasted barely 13 days before losing vote of confidence in Lok Sabha. The regional
parties i.e., TDP, DMK, AGP and the Tamil Manila Congress in alliance witli Janata Dal
formed National front comprising of the communist parties. The resultant United Front-was

4
The term ‗one party dominant multi-party system‘ was coined by Rajni Kothari in 1964
5
Yogendra Yadav ―Reconfiguration in Indian Politics: State Assembly Elections 1993- 1995‖, Economic and
Political Weekly, 31(2&3), 13 January, 95-104

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able to form a coalition Government led by H.D.Devegowda first and then by I.K.Gujral with
the outside support of the Congress and the left parties (CPI for the first time in Parliamentary
history joined the Government). The U.F. coalition Government collapsed after the
withdrawal of support from Congress in 1998. The 'hung' Parliament which emerged after
1996 elections was not just a matter of no single party getting a majority but rather of no
party or a clear alliance of parties being in a position to govern. The BJP‘s ability to form a
government in 1998 was directly related to its electoral gains in the south and east, and
among the backward castes. In 1998 and 1999 elections, however, BJP and Congress showed
that despite no party getting a majority on its own, two 'poles' have become visible-the
Congress and the BJP- within the regionalised multi-party system. It is natural then that both
have been gradually accepting the imperatives of coalition politics and alliance building.

► Post 1999 – Coalition Governments:

B.J.P. took a lesson from its 1996 experience entered into electoral coalition with the regional
parties like AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, Samata Party in Bihar, Trinamool Congress in West
Bengal, Akali party in Punjab etc. Subsequently these parties (eighteen in number) formed a
coalition Government which lasted barely for one year as AIADMK withdrew its support
1999. The 1999 parliamentary elections show that the two parties Congress and BJP, had
electoral alliances with regional parties in such a manner that coalition Government became
inevitable to emerge.

The 1999 Lok Sabha elections brought the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed by
the BJP to power. The BJP and its allies gained 296 seats and 41.3% votes; the Congress and
its allies gained only 134 seats but 34.7% of the vote which was 3.4% more than in the last
election, while the remaining parties obtained a total of 107 seats and 23.9% which is 36 seats
and 5% of the votes less than in the previous election. The Congress dropped to a historical
low of 112 seats. The success of the N.D.A. lied in the fact that the regional parties
performed well in the elections. In fact, regional parties were able tocapture 37% of the seats
and form a substantial section of the N.D.A. In October 1999, the twelve-party BJP-led NDA
formed a minority coalition along with post-electoral allies, despite some NDA constituents
opting to support from the outside (the legislative coalition, pre- and post-electoral including
those who opted to stay out of the government, including independents, consisted of twenty
parties).

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Stunned by this defeat, the Congress tried to re-organize its structure. Congress under the
leadership of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was restored as a political force. There was change in the
attitude of leadership and a new group of young politicians with new political ideology were
brought in front. Structural reorganization from grass-root level was carried out. In May
2004, the nine-party Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) drawn from a pre-and
post-election alliance consisting of seventeen parties including eight new allies and minus
two old allies, formed a minority coalition government at centre with the external support of
the four Left parties and two others, plus external support of two pre-electoral allies who
opted to stay out. The major difference between 2004 and earlier elections was that the
Congress, for the first time, became coalitionable in a large number of significant states.

► Congress and the successive coalition governments:

Viewed from the disciplinary perspective of an electoral analyst, the parliamentary election
of 2004 truly belonged to the class of normal elections. First, it did not in any significant way
affect the ongoing structure of political competition carried through the by now established
multiparty coalition system. Second, the election verdict did not indicate any spectacular
movement of voters from the previous election of 1999, either between the two contending
parties (the Congress and the BJP) or the coalitions (NDA and UPA) and produce a clear
majority for the winning coalition of the kind it did in 1999 for the NDA. And yet it removed
from power the BJP-led ruling coalition and gave the Congress-led UPA a mandate to rule.
The contest of 2004 was between the BJP and non-Congress parties rather than the BJP and
Congress. The UPA had the winning edge over the NDA thanks to alliances the Congress
forged with such regional parties as RJD in Bihar, DMK in Tamil Nadu, JMM in Jharkhand
and NCP in Maharashtra. The NDA defeat, on the other hand, was largely due to the fact that
it dropped its 1999 allies and decided to go alone in states like Haryana and Jharkhand, and
changed allies in Tamil Nadu. Following on the 1999 election, the outcome of 2004 has
produced a stabilizing effect for the new multiparty system that emerged in the wake of the
1989 election. Given this context of political instability, the 2004 verdict that made a change
of regime possible without creating serious imbalances in the coalitional party system,
acquires an altogether different meaning. Viewed in continuity with 1999, the 2004 election
seems to have ended the earlier phase in which political instability was seen as an inevitable
consequence of an election fought by a multitude of parties.

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The comeback of the U.P.A. government in 2009 elections was a phenomenon which no
political analyst was able to predict. Building upon the spell of good governance and the
significant economic performance displayed by the country under U.P.A. government, the
public of India decided to bring U.P.A. government back to power in 2009. In a stellar
performance, the U.P.A. alliance won 262 of the 543 seats, which is 48.2% of the total
strength of the Lok Sabha 6. However the elections came as a surprise for the B.J.P. led N.D.A
alliance which was in full preparation for the formation of a government. The N.D.A. alliance
could manage only 159 seats. B.J.P. fared poorly and could fetch only 116 seats. This failure
was a direct result of negative campaigning and rejection of Lal Krishna Advani as the future
P.M. of the country. The elections also brought horror for the Left front which lost 29 seats
and won election in 24 constituencies. In all, these elections proved the importance of the
coalition working together and achieving together. The elections in India are now no more a
one party issue but working a whole faction of parties as one. The failure of N.D.A. wasn‘t
only the failure of B.J.P. but the failure of the coalition as a whole. The splendid performance
by Congress made the task easier for the U.P.A. though.

► Post 2009: Assembly elections of 2010 and 2011

After the general elections of 2009, the assembly elections of Bihar were the most important
elections. A direct influence of national issues like corruption was seen in this election. The
outcome was that the B.J.P.-J.D.(U) coalition won 206 of the 243 seats, capturing 84.8 % of
the total seats. The ‗good governance‘ factor and the overall development of the state under
leadership of Mr. Nitish Kumar led to a big victory in the elections.

The results of the assembly elections in four Indian states (Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and
West Bengal) and 1 Union territory (Puducherry) dominated by regional parties were
announced on 13 May 2011. National attention was focused principally on the results in
Tamil Nadu, where the ruling DMK party has been implicated in the 2G spectrum allocation
scandal, and in West Bengal, where the Communist Party of India‘s (Marxist)-led Left Front
has been in power for the last 34 years.

The third-time-running win by the Congress and its Bodoland People‘s Front allies is an
endorsement both of outgoing chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, and the Union government‘s

6
Source: Election Commission of India

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attempts at conciliation with the various Assamese separatist groups. The AGP and BJP‘s
attempts to whip up feeling against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants failed.

The alternate power pattern between Left led L.D.F. and Congress led U.D.F continued ,
although the Congress might have expected a more decisive victory over 88-year-old
outgoing chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, whose political career is now at an end.

In Pondicherry the Congress and its DMK allies suffered a severe defeat at the hands of
Congress splinter group, the NR Congress – led by former chief minister N. Rangasamy –
and its allies, the AIADMK, broadly following the pattern in Tamil Nadu which surrounds
most of the tiny state, a French colony until 1954.

In Tamil Nadu former chief J. Jayalalithaa – popularly known in the state as Amma
(‗mother‘) scored a massive win over the DMK from which her party broke away in the
1970s. The parties tend to alternate in power, but the serious defeat for the DMK will be
regarded as punishment for its involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scandal – the
largest in modern Indian history – which is currently being investigated. Former DMK
telecoms minister A. Raja is currently in jail awaiting trial. Kanimozhi, a national MP and the
daughter of the 86-year-old outgoing chief minister and DMK leader, M. Karunanidhi, is
currently seeking bail, having been implicated herself. The Congress will rue its decision to
stick with the DMK, having been offered an alliance by Jayalalithaa several months ago.
Whether the DMK will now quit the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coalition at
the national level, to be replaced by the AIADMK, remains to be seen. The outcome has
shown that Indian people have developed a healthy distaste for corruption.

Union railway minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee‘s victory over the
communists was long expected after the Trinamool‘s wins in municipal polls last year, but it
was still emphatic and it appears she did not need the help of her Congress allies. Her support
now extends far beyond Kolkata, India‘s intellectual capital. Outgoing chief minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee was among many leading Left figures to lose his seat as the
communists were routed after 34 years in charge. The challenges the Trinamool faces in
terms of repairing the state‘s reputation given the violence that afflicts rural districts, the
desperate position of the state finances and the challenge from Naxalite (Maoist) terrorists,
are formidable.

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► Impact of Coalition Politics:

Prior to 1989, India‘s party system produced single-party majority governments based on
only a plurality of the vote. Since then, over the course of the past six elections, it produced
hung parliaments and multi-party minority and/or coalition governments. Since 1996, India
has seen among the world‘s largest multi-party coalition governments of seven to twelve
parties in government, not counting pre-electoral and post-electoral allies who opt to provide
only external support. The time of the dominance of the Congress Party had passed after the
1980‘s. A two-party system emerged with the rise of the BJP, which won the elections in
1996, 1998 and 1999. The coalition system entered into a maturity phase since 1999 and has
produced 3 consecutive successful coalition governments.
The change from a one party majority system to coalitions has lent a structural stability to a
long-term policy process. It has ensured a degree of irreversibility to some basic policies,
especially in the areas of external affairs, defence and the economy, lending continuity to
governance despite regime changes. An expanded and diversified representation in the
government ensured no arbitrary action would be taken as there would be opposition from
within the government. The coalition system has made the regional parties much more
important and has given them a chance to be either in the power or in the opposition.

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Conclusion:

The disintegration of political party system in India has not been a days process but a change
which has taken place over the years. From the era of single party dominance, we have
reached a time where coalition system of politics has been established. This change occurred
over period of 50 years. The Indian National Congress by virtue of its leadership in the
National Movement and experience of governance during the provincial government of 1935,
remained a force to reckon with in the inaugural elections and remained single party in the
scene till 1967. Meanwhile till 1967 many regional parties had emerged and there was
defection of party leaders from Congress to these regional parties. It was for the first time that
I.N.C. felt its power weaken in the Indian political scenario. Following the elections, the
disintegration of the party continued and there were two splits in the party in 1969 and 1977
respectively. The proclamation of Emergency during 1975-77 made Congress party a villain
in the eyes of people and it was swept across the country in the elections of 1977. However
due to weak governance and internal conflict in the Janata Dal, government couldn‘t last for
long. During this period the Congress made amends and was restored to power in 1979. The
assassination of Mrs. Gandhi brought a landslide victory for the party in elections of 1984.
The emergence of parties with national aspirations like the B.J.P. and growing influence of
regional parties ended the dominance of Congress in the Indian political scene. Though the
United Front government fell in 1991, it was proved that Congress was no longer the lone
warrior in the electoral battle.
The 1990‘s was a period of transition which displayed skill of Narsimha Rao who led a
minority government for a period of five years. It was a period of political change which saw
minority governments and unsuccessful coalitions. It was in 1999 when the B.J.P. formed a
coalition at centre that the coalition system started showing some maturity. Successful
coalition governments at centre in 2004 and 2009 have shown that the coalition system is
here to stay.
Meanwhile the electoral results of 2010 and 2011 assembly elections have shown that now
the voter has become much more politically aware. This is indicated by the fact that the major
issues which turned the tide in favour of N.D.A. in Bihar was good governance displayed by
N.D.A. government and in Tamil Nadu it was a wave of Anti-Corruptionism against the
ruling D.M.K. whose leaders have been indicted in one of the biggest scams in the history of
India.

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 Disintegration of Party System in India

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Change of 2004-D.L.Seth

India: A Fragmented Democracy by Teresita Schaffer and Himani Saigal Arora

The Washington Quarterly autumn 1999

‗The fragmentation of political parties and the quality of Indian democracy‘ by Andrew
Wyatt

The Party System in India by Prakash Sarangi

India 2025-A Social, Political and Economic Assessment by Sudha Pai,

Parties under Pressure: Political Parties in India Since Independence by K.C. Suri

Indian Elections 2009: Hope For A Better Future by Dr. Noor Ul Haq

Analysis of India‘s Assembly Elections 2011 by Dr. Steven King

Party System Fragmentation ,Intra-party Democracy and Opaque Political Finance by

E. Sridharan

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