RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION 59

International Research Journal , September 2010 ISSN- 0975-3486 RNI: RAJBIL 2009/30097 VOL I * ISSUE 12

In general, the term coalition means temporarycombination of groups or individuals formed to pursuespecific objectives through joint action. The termcoalition is most often used in connection with politicalparties. Coalition governments, which are frequentlyfound in multiparty countries like India, France, Italy,and many other countries of the world, are formed whenno single party is strong enough to obtain an electoralmajority. The resulting government usually distributespolitical posts to representatives of all coalitionmembers. A Coalition Government might also be createdin a time of national difficulty or crisis, for exampleduring wartime, to give a Government the high degreeof perceived political legitimacy. Coalition Governmentsusually does not appear in countries in which the cabinetis chosen by the executive rather than by a lower house,such as in the United States. However, in semi-presidential systems such as France, where thepresident formally appoints a prime minister but thegovernment itself must still maintain the confidence ofthe parliament, coalition governments occur quiteregularly. Cabinets based on a coalition with majority inparliament, ideally are more stable and long-lived thanminority cabinets while the former are prone to internalstruggles, they have less reason to fear votes of non-confidence. Sometimes grand coalitions of two largeparties also occur, but these are relatively rare and largeparties usually prefer to associate with small ones(though currently the governments of both Israel andGermany include the two largest parties). However, ifnone of the larger parties can receive enough votes toform their preferred coalition, a grand coalition might betheir only choice for forming a government.In manydemocratic countries, such as Germany, France, India,Israel and Italy, government by a coalition of politicalparties is considered normal. Often in such countriesthere are many political parties with a significant levelof popular support in elections. This means no oneparty usually can gain more than 30% of the seats in theparliament or national assembly, so it is necessary for

several parties to come together to form a viablegovernment, generally under the premiership of theleader of the largest party involved. In other states,such as the UK, USA and Japan, there are fewersignificant political parties and coalitions are rare, asafter an election a winning party is able to form aneffective government without any help from others.This debate is closely related to issues of voting reform,as countries with some form of proportionalrepresentation tend to have more political parties inparliament than those that use a first-past-the-postsystem, and so are more likely to have coalitiongovernments. India has had coalition governments at thecentre as well as in the states since the last two decades.Coalition governments are not a new phenomenon inIndia. Since 1967, 60 coalition governments havefunctioned in Indian polity. On an average, thesegovernments lasted for 26 months. However, thecommunist coalition government in West Bengal haslasted for more than 25 years. In the wake of the declineof Congress Dominance, the fragmentation of theNational Party System and the emergence of partysystems at the regional level have turned India intoa chequered federal chessboard. The past and likelyfuture patterns of coalition governments in India aresuggestive of at least three models of power sharing:(a) coalition of more or less equal partners, e.g. theNational Front and the United Front, (b) coalition ofrelatively smaller parties led by a major party, e.g.National Democratic Alliance; and (c) coalition ofrelatively smaller parties facil itated but notnecessarily led by a prime minister from the majorparty, e.g. the coalition of parties formed in 2004around the Indian National Congress, avowingsecular Indian Nationalism. In a rather short span ofover a decade, India has witnessed coalitiongovernments of three major muted hues: (a) middle-of-the-road Centrist Congress Minority Governmentof P.V. Narsimha Rao, going against its Left Centre ofreputation, initiated neo-liberal economic reforms in

* Assicate Prof. Comm.Dept. Sant Gadge Maharaj Mahavidyalaya, Walgaom.

Research Paper

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COALITION POLITICS IN INDIA:PROSPECTS & PROBLEMS

* Dr. A.K.Pandey

* Govt.. D. B. Girls P.G. Auto. College ,Raipur (Chhattisgarh)

International Research Journal , September 2010 ISSN- 0975-3486 RNI: RAJBIL 2009/30097 VOL I * ISSUE 12

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1991; (b) three Left-of-centre governments formedby the Janata-Dal-led National/United Front; and (c)two Right-of-Centre coalition governments formedby the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NationalDemocratic Alliance under Atal Behari Vajpayee, avotary of secular version of Hindu nationalism. While stressing that nomination of Prime Ministerialcandidate decides the future of the coalitiongovernments. The nomination of Morarji Desai as primeminister during Janata Party regime of 1977 had causeda feeling of unhappiness among Babu Jagjivanram andChoudhary Charan Singh. The merits of coalitionGovernments in India are following: 1. We need tounderstand that the concept of coalition governmentoriginated in India because of regional disparity andthe failure of national parties to meet the aspirationsand needs of all the states.

The coalition government addresses theregional disparity more than the single party rule. Iagree that it may not perform at its full throttle but it isalways good for inclusive growth of all the regions, ofall the people of a country than the high growth of onlyselected people and region. 2. Coalition government ismore democratic, and hence fairer, because it representsa much broader spectrum of public opinion thangovernment by one party alone. In almost all coalitions,a majority of citizens voted for the parties which formthe government and so their views and interests arerepresented in political decision-making. 3. Coalitiongovernment creates a more honest and dynamic politicalsystem, allowing voters a clearer choice at electiontime. In countries where coalition government is veryrare, such as the UK or USA, the main parties straddlea wide spectrum of opinion and can be seen as coalitionsof competing interest groups and ideologies. Atelections, however, such parties present themselves,perhaps fraudulently, to voters as united behindparticular views and policies, whereas in power theirinternal divisions may have a serious, and often unseen,impact upon decision-making. In countries withcoalition governments the greater number of politicalparties gives the voter a more honest choice and bringsdifferences of opinion out into the open for debate. Itis also easier for parties to split, or new ones to beformed, as new political issues divide opinion, becausenew parties still have a chance of a share in politicalpower. 4. Coalitions provide good government becausetheir decisions are made in the interests of a majority ofthe people. Because a wide consensus of opinion isinvolved, any policy will be debated thoroughly withinthe government before it is implemented. Single-partygovernment is much more likely to impose badlythought-out policies upon parliament and people,

perhaps for narrowly ideological reasons (for example,the emergency rule under Mrs. Indira Gandhi).Whendifficult or historic decisions have to be taken, forexample in wartime, or over an issue such as membershipof the European Union or NATO, the consent ofpoliticians representing a wide range of interests andopinion is important in committing the country and itspeople to difficult but necessary courses of action5. Coalition government provides more continuity inadministration. In countries without a tradition ofcoalition governments, parties can remain in governmentor opposition for long periods, and an adversarialpolitical culture develops. When a change does occur,the members of the new administration seldom haveany experience of government to draw upon, and oftenembark upon a wholesale reversal of the previousregimes policies; neither of these things is in the publicinterest. In states with coalition politics, however, thereare usually at least some ministers with considerableexperience under the previous government. A moreconsensual style of politics also allows for a more gradualand constructive shift of policy betweenadministrations. 6. Such government functions onprinciple of politics of consensus. Besides, states aregiven more powers, and the base of concept of federalismis strengthened. I am of the firm opinion that strongerthe states of any nation, stronger will be government atthe Centre. 7. In coalition politics, one have tocompromise with all your principles to accommodatethe other and finally you will stand nowhere. Thecommunist one time severe opposition to congress istoday supporting them. it is the time for India to learncoalition politics and in future India will only seecoalition govt. 8. Government will be more consensus-based: resulting policies will be broadly approved of forthe benefit of the nation.9. Better representation of theelectorates wishes 10. Better quality of policy: enhancedscrutiny and increased attention paid to each policy 11.Increased continuity: election does not lead to dramaticoverhaul which can produce fragmented rule 12. Yetinstability apart, coalition governments have beeneffective in enhancing democratic legitimacy,representativeness, and national unity. Major policyshifts like neo-liberal economic reforms, federaldecentralization, and grass roots decentralization, intheory or practice, are largely attributable to the onsetof federal coalit ional governance. Coalit iongovernments in states and at the centre have alsofacilitated gradual transition of the Marxist-left andthe Hindu-right into the political establishment, andthus contributed to the integration of the partysystem as well as the nation. The same major nationalparties that initially rejected the idea of coalition

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International Research Journal , September 2010 ISSN- 0975-3486 RNI: RAJBIL 2009/30097 VOL I * ISSUE 12politics have today accepted it and are maturing intoskilled and virtuoso performers at the game. Problems of coalition governments1. Coalition government is actually less democratic asthe balance of power is inevitably held by the smallparties who can barter their support for concessionsfrom the main groups within the coalition. This meansthat a party with little popular support is able to imposeits policies upon the majority by a process of politicalblackmail. Possible examples of this might include therole of religious parties in Israel, the Greens in Germanyand France, and the demand of constitutional reformsby the Lib Dems in the UK as their price of coalitionsupport in a future hung parliament. Democracy may befurther undermined if the process of coalition-makingis subject to the whim of a monarch or president, ableto decide who to ask to attempt to form a government,whether to call new elections, etc. 2. Coalitiongovernment is less transparent. Because a party has noreal chance of forming a government alone, themanifestos they present to the public become irrelevantand often wildly unrealistic. Real decisions aboutpolitical programmes are made after the election, in aprocess of secretive back-room negotiation from whichthe public is excluded. 3. Coalitions provide badgovernment because they are unable to take a long-term view. Sometimes an ideological compass isnecessary for governments to navigate in difficultpolitical and economic waters, and coalitions lack sucha unifying philosophy. In addition planning for thelong-term often requires decisions to be made that areunpopular in the short-term. Coalitions often fail suchtests because temporary unpopularity may encourageone of the parties involved to defect, in search of apopulist advantage. It might be agreed that sometimesexceptional circumstances, such as war, require acoalition government (although the USA did not haveone in either World War). This does not mean that suchgovernments are better in normal conditions. Majorconstitutional decisions are better dealt with throughreferendum 4. Coalition governments are very unstable,often collapsing and reforming at frequent intervals Italy, for example, averages more than one governmentper year since 1945.In India all non-Congress coalitionsexcept last bajpayees ministry didnt completed its fullterm and the first Bajpayee ministry lasted for onlythirteen days. This greatly restricts the ability ofgovernments to deal with major reforms and means thatpoliticians seldom stay in any particular ministerial postfor long enough to get to grips with its demands. At thesame time, this squabbling between political partieserodes the confidence of the public in their political

system and in their elected representatives. 5. Coalitiongovernments are definitely far less effective, not durable,and non-dependable as compared to the governmentsformed by any one party with a definite ideology andprinciples. 6. In coalition governments, MLAs andMPs from all the parties are given portfolios / ministriesand appointed as Ministers. These ministers areappointed on the recommendations of the parent party,without taking the qualification, character and criminal/ clean record of the MLAs and MPs. 7. Many timesit is found that the numbers of ministers are so verylarge that the leaders run out of portfolios to be givento the incumbents. That means there is no office existingand some MLAs and MPs become ministers. We haveeven seen ministers without portfolios or minister withsome meaningless portfolios. Such ministers are askedto run their office without portfolios from theirresidences, with hardly any officials working underthem. 8. This is a blatant misuse and waste of therevenues collected out of the hard-earned money of thepeople of India. 9. I think coalition govt. cannot ableto proper development of country because thegovernment hasnt power to take decision himself.If you turn the pages of Indian History afterIndependence, we can clearly see that most of the timecoalition government failed to give the good governanceto the people of India. We can take the example asfollows: 1.Janta Dal government at centre in 1989 2.Previous state government in Karnataka (CongressJanta Dal alliance) 3. BJP lead alliance headed by A.B.Bajpayee had not smooth run 4. Last governmentalliance in U.P. before Mayavati government

Conclusion: - I conclude that since India isa diverse country with different ethnic, linguistic, andreligious communities, it also has diverse ideologies.Due to this, the benefit that a coalition has is that it leadsto more consensus based politics and reflects thepopular opinion of the electorate. In order to have stablecoalitions, it is necessary that political parties moderatetheir ideologies and programmes. They should be moreopen to take others point of view as well. They mustaccommodate each others interests and concerns. InIndia, parties do not always agree on the correct pathfor government policy. Different parties have differentinterests and beliefs and it is difficult to sustain aconsensus on issues when disagreement arises.However, this is not to say that we have never hadsuccessful coalitions. Governments in W. Bengal,Kerala, N.D.A. last ministry as well as present U.P.A.Government led by Congress at centre have beensuccessful coalition.

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