MEANING OF COALITION GOVERNMENT‌

The term 'coalition’ is derived from the Latin word 'coalitio’ which means 'to grow together’. Thus, technically, coalition means the act of uniting parts into one body or whole. Politically, coalition means an alliance of distinct political parties.

Coalition politics or coalition government has been defined in the following way:

When several political parties join hands to form a government and exercise political power on the basis of a common agreed programme/agenda, we can describe the system as coalition politics or coalition government1 .

Coalitions usually occur in modern parliaments when no single political party can muster a majority of votes. Two or more parties, who have enough elected members between them to form a majority, may then be able to agree on a common programme that does not require too many drastic compromises with their individual policies, and can proceed to form a government2 .

Coalition denotes a co-operative arrangement under which distinct political parties, or at all events members of such parties, unite to form a government or ministry3 .

Coalition is a direct descendant of the exigencies of multi-party system in a democratic set-up. It is a phenomenon of a multi-party government where a number of minority parties join hands for the purpose of running the government. A coalition is formed when many splinter groups in a House agree to join hands on a common platform by sinking their broad differences and form a majority in the House4 .