Politics of India

For most of its independent history, India has been ruled by the Indian National Congress Party (INC). Following its position as the largest political organisation in pre-independence India, the INC, usually led by a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, dominated national politics for over four decades.

In 1975, the government led by Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency Rule across the nation. After emergency was lifted in 1977, and fresh elections were called, a united opposition, under the banner of the Janata Party won the elections and formed a non-Congress government for a short period of time. In 1996, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a political party with a right wing nationalist ideology, became the largest single party, and established, for the first time, a serious opposition to the largely centre-left Congress.

But power was de facto held by two successive coalition governments, with the active support of the Congress. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) along with smaller regional parties, and became the first non-Congress government to sustain a full five year tenure (1999-2004). The decade prior to 1999 was marked by a state of political flux, with seven separate governments formed within that period.

In the 2004 Indian elections the INC returned to power after winning the largest number of seats. The Congress Party formed a government in alliance with several regional parties, known as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), with the outside support of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). The NDA, led by the BJP, currently forms the main opposition. All governments formed since 1996 have required party coalitions, with no single party claiming a majority, due to the steady rise of regional parties at the national level.

According to its constitution, India is a “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic.” India is said to be the largest nation on Earth with a democratically-elected government. Like the United States, India has a federal form of government. However, the central government in India has greater power in relation to its states, and its central government is patterned after the British parliamentary system. Regarding the former, “the Centre”, the national government, can and has dismissed state governments if no majority party(-ies) are able to form a government or under specific Constitutional clauses, and can impose direct federal rule known as President’s rule.

The government exercises its broad administrative powers in the name of the President, whose duties are largely ceremonial. The president and vice president are elected indirectly for 5-year terms by a special electoral college. The vice president assumes the office of president in case of the death or resignation of the incumbent president.