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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.