Coalitions Not Losing Importance in India

Sometimes it is hard to understand the true power of coalitions when living in a place like the United States where two main political parties drive our political system. Smaller parties, such as the Tea Party, do not have much say and can only win elections when running under the umbrella of a larger party. However, in countries such as India, coalitions are imperative to winning any election. The votes are normally spread over several different parties, which make it harder to win the majority. This is where coalitions come into play.

In a study done by Sona Nadenichek Golder, she discusses two different type of coalitions: pre-electoral coalitions, and coalitions formed once elected to government. However, she focuses most of her study on pre-electoral coalitions, or in other words, coalitions created before an election. Golder defines a pre-electoral coalition as “multiple parties [choosing] to co-ordinate their electoral strategies rather than run for office alone”. When in a political system with many different parties, it is crucial for the smaller parties to band together in order to gets seats within government and be able to have any control over the laws and legislation that gets passed. There are several circumstances in which coalitions are more likely to form. The three situations I would like to focus on in which coalitions are more likely to form are: 1. When parties are ideologically compatible 2. When the expected coalition size is large and 3. When potential coalition partners are similar in size.

Main Political Parties in India

No single party has won the majority since the 1990s in India due to the start of political coalitions in 1989. However, India can be very difficult to create coalitions and be able to tell who will have enough votes to win considering there are 29 states and seven Union Territories which can make things complicated. This makes it incredibly difficult to predict before hand what will occur during elections. In India, the most important coalitions are those with parties in particular states. In India there is one obvious coalition between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which stems from ideological similarities. However, the smaller political coalitions in India can often go against the results of Golder’s study. Some of these smaller coalitions can often be pushed by “political opportunism” rather than similarities in ideologies. This is perhaps a reason why none of the Indian coalitions can stay together for more than a term, if that. Many coalitions that ended up winning between 1989 and 2004 didn’t make it to the end of a full term in office. One coalition only made it thirteen days into their reign of power.

Results of the 2014 Election

It is important for the biggest party in India to realize the past research done on pre-electoral coalitions in order to create a coalition that will withstand all the changes happening in India right now. As shown in the last couple of elections, the BJP has not necessarily made a coalition that can withstand all the other parties. In the 2014 elections they did not get as many seats as they hoped and their coalition saw possible decline. The only reason they won the 2014 election was due to circumstances that will not be there in future years. The future of this coalition is very unsure. When moving forward it is important for the BJP to look towards the other parties that are similar in size and ideology. If they focus on having similar ideologies, the coalition will hopefully continue to increase and solidify in the elections to come.

http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/the-politics-of-coalitions-in-india/

http://nottspolitics.org/2014/03/13/alliances-are-the-key-to-understanding-indias-general-election/

https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/farooquisridharan