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FORMATION OF COALITION GOVERNMENTS
In the first four Lok Sabha elections (1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967), the Congress party secured the required majority to form the government at the Centre. Even though there was a split in the Congress party in 1969, the minority government of Indira Gandhi managed to continue with the outside support of the CPI, the DMK and other parties. Again, the Congress party won the 1971 elections and formed a single-party government.
However, the dominant Congress party was badly defeated in the 1977 elections. Since then, there have been a number of coalition governments at the Centre. The details are mentioned in Table 75.1.
Table 75.1 Formation of Coalition Governments at the Centre
Sl. Period No. | Coalition | Prime Minister (Party) | Partners |
1. 1977- 1979 | Janata Party | Morarji Desai (Congress (O)) | Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal, Socialist Party, Congress for Democracy, Chandra Shekhar Group (former congressmen) and others. |
2. 1979- 1980 | Janata Party (Secular) | Charan Singh (Janata(S)) | Janata (S) and Congress (U). Congress (I) supported from outside. |
3. 1989- 1990 | National Front | V.P. Singh (Janata Dal) | Janata Dal, TDP, DMK, AGP and |
Congress | |||
(Socialist) BJP and | |||
Left parties | |||
supported from | |||
outside. | |||
4. 1990- | Janata Dal | Chandra | Janata Dal (S) and |
1991 | (Socialist) or | Shekhar | Janata Party. |
Samajwadi | (Janata Dal (S) | Congress (I) | |
Janata Party | or Samajwadi | supported from | |
Janata Party) | outside. | ||
5. 1996- | United Front | H.D. Deve | Janata Dal, CPI, |
1997 | Gowda | Congress (T), | |
(Janata Dal) | DMK, TDP, TMC, | ||
AGP, SP and | |||
others. Congress | |||
and CPM | |||
supported from | |||
outside. | |||
6. 1997- | United Front | I.K. Gujral | Janata Dal, CPI, |
1998 | (Janata Dal) | TMC, SP, DMK, | |
AGP, TDP and | |||
others. Congress | |||
supported from | |||
outside. | |||
7. 1998- | BJP-led | A.B. Vajpayee | BJP, AIADMK, |
1999 | Coalition | (BJP) | BJD, Shiv Sena, |
Lok Shakti, | |||
Arunachal | |||
Congress, Samata, | |||
Akali Dal, PMK, | |||
TRC and others. | |||
TDP and | |||
Trinamool | |||
Congress | |||
supported from | |||
outside. | |||
8. 1999- | National | A.B. Vajpayee | BJP, JD (U), |
2004 | Democratic Alliance | (BJP) | Trinamool Congress, Shiv |
(NDA) | Sena, BJD, LJP, | ||
DMK, PMK, INLD, | |||
MDMK, National | |||
Conference, Akali | |||
Dal, RLD, AGP | |||
and others. | |||
9. 2004- | United | Manmohan | Congress, NCP, |
2009 | Progressive | Singh | DMK, RJD, LJP, |
Alliance | (Congress) | PMK and others. | |
(UPA) | CPI and CPM | ||
supported from | |||
outside. | |||
10. 2009- | United | Manmohan | Congress, NCP, |
2014 | Progressive | Singh | DMK, Trinamool |
Alliance-II | (Congress) | Congress, National | |
(UPA-II) | Conference and | ||
others. | |||
11. 2014- | National | Narendra Modi | BJP, LJP, TDP, |
2019 | Democratic | (BJP) | Shiv Sena, Akali |
Alliance | Dal, Rashtriya Lok | ||
(NDA) | Samata Party, | ||
Apna Dal (S) and | |||
others. TDP left | |||
NDA in 2018. | |||
12. 2019- till | National | Narendra Modi | BJP, Akali Dal, |
date | Democratic | (BJP) | LJP, Shiv Sena |
Alliance | and others. Shiv | ||
(NDA) | Sena left NDA in | ||
November 2019. |