The contemporary party system in India developed originally in the context of the struggle for freedom and since 1950 within the framework of parliamentary government. Though India was a Multi-party democracy since Independence, for all intents and purposes it can be considered as single-party democracy because the influence of congress was so great it dwarfed all other national parties of the time with the only communist party of India holding little sway in certain regions of India. INC dominated Indian politics till about 1967, with the political awareness and literacy changes began to appear in the political system of India.

The Evolution Of Indian Political Landscape

The evolution of the party system in Post-Independence era can be suitably divided into various phases as follows

1952-64: The Nehruvian era of National Consensus

1. The seeds of the multiparty system were sown in the British Era, but for many years after the freedom, Congress remained the dominant party.
2. Nevertheless, in 1951 four major groups of parties existed at the time of the first General Elections viz. Congress, Socialist Party, Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP).
3. Apart from that, there were Communist Party of India, Bhartiya Jan Sangh, Hindu Mahasabha, Ram Rajya Parishad and so on. Then, there were some regional parties also such as Akali Dal, Scheduled Caste Federation, Jharkhand party, Tamilnadu Congress, Praja Party (Telugu) and so on.
4. However, none of the parties other than congress enjoyed mass support due to its identification with the independence movement.
5. In the first general elections, Congress won 45% of the votes and 364 out of 489 seats in Lok Sabha. In-state assemblies also, Congress won 68% seats with over 42% vote share.

1964-77: An Uneasy Transition

1. The 1967 elections posed a challenge to the dominance of the congress system after the death of Nehru.
2. During this phase, the regional sentiments were raised by regional leaders, strong chief ministers such as K. Kamraj in Tamil Nadu, S K Patil in Bombay, who was part of the Congress only those days.
3. Some of the regional leaders had grown much larger in status; and congress under the regional pull, worked as a federal organization, and its state units sometimes behaved like regional parties. This is known as the federalisation of the congress party.
4. In the fourth General Election in 1967, congress’s vote share declined to 41% and seat share to 54.62%. The party lost power in eight states.
5. The Congress failed to secure majorities in eight states and its majority in the Lok Sabha was reduced to a very narrow 54% of the seats.
6. In 1977, Congress was ousted from power for the first time with the Janta government coming in power.

1977-89: A Period of a New Consensus and Increasing Inter-Party Conflict

1. New coalition emerged led by the Janata Party in 1977. This led to the Emergence of a MultiParty System in India.
2. Many smaller parties had come together to fight Congress dominance rather than any ideological consensus. But, the lack of ideologically coherent policy led to the fall of Janata party and congress gained a rise of power in 1980.
3. With the rise of BJP, its leaders such as AB Vajpayee adopted ideals of Gandhian socialism and posture to garner the support of the Hindu majority in north India.
4. The later events such as the Bofors scam further weakened the congress. The 1989 election set the country on the path of a coalition era.

1989 to 2014: Multi-party system and Coalition politics

1. Corruption cases, economic crises, etc set the tone for an era of coalitions that has lasted for almost twenty-five years of coalition governments.
2. The modern era of coalition politics has come into being as a consequence of the development of the multi-party system. However, this period is marred by compulsions of a coalition.
3. Between 1989 and 1996, India saw three central governments. Growth of Regional Parties also leads to ‘rainbow’ coalitions, so-called because like the rainbow, they last only a short time. The period of 1996 – 1999 had 3 general elections, which cost a lot of public money.
4. This period saw the Mandal Commission, the rise of political awakening in Dalits, the rise of caste-based regional parties such as BSP (Dalits in UP), SP (backwards in UP), RJD (Dalit -Muslim-Yadav in Bihar) etc. These changes led to a silent revolution in the party system of India.

2014 to now: Resurgence of One-party System?

1. Two general elections 2014 and 2019, saw a single party (BJP) on its own getting the full majority, breaking the 25 years of compulsions of coalition politics.
2. The current political system is being seen as characterised by a personality cult, communalism and caste-based politics.
3. From multi-party to single largest party systems, this can be a temporary and unusual shift, conclusion on this pattern can be derived only after a few more elections.

During This Evolution Indian Political Landscape Achieved New Milestones

1. The Indian party system became highly competitive and more democratized. Rise of regional parties, which had more say in not the only domestic policy of the government but also foreign policy.
2. During times of coalitions, regional parties served as a moderating force upon exclusionary national parties.
3. The regional parties depended a lot on their social bases, internal organizations and ideologies. Regional parties fill a vacuum for protecting minorities.
4. The coalition politics has led to empowerment for regional parties from the states and has added to India’s search for true federalism.
5. Since 1996, twenty-three regional parties have been sharing power at the national level. there is a strong sense of Indianness, or what is called a federal unifier.

Some Of The Limitations Of Multi-party System

1. It may lead to policy paralysis and delay in decision making and bills. In times of emergency, coalition coordination can lead to unacceptable delays.
2. Coalition governments can obstruct the process of decision making and the conduct of decision implementation.
3. The coalition government has turned politics of north India into one of competition for vote banks based on caste and community etc.
4. Such governments are usually unstable and may lead to the fall of government even before completion of tenure.
5. Due to the coalition, weak and multi-party opposition became a significant feature of the Indian political system.
6. To form a government and to share power, ideological commitments are being ignored. Parties with opposite ideologies are coming together to form the government.

Evolution of the political system in India led to the strengthening and penetration of democracy. The outlook of regional parties and coalition parties now appears to be changing from conflictual orientation to a tendency of co-operative bargaining in respect of Centre-state relations. Now the financial problems in the Centre-State relations are the main focus of attention. If destructive tendencies of communalism are kept away from the political system, then the current trajectory of political developments may prove to be the best in the unity and integrity of India.