Coalition politics

Story hook

In the early hours of 13 March 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee — sworn in as Prime Minister twelve days earlier as the head of the first National Democratic Alliance government — was reading out a list of names to his Cabinet Secretary. They were the chief ministers of regional parties whose support he needed. Jayalalithaa of AIADMK had her demands ready. Mamata Banerjee was insisting on the Railway Ministry for TMC. Mehbooba Mufti's father, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was angling for Home. George Fernandes of Samata Party wanted Defence. Within a year, the AIADMK would withdraw support over Bofors and Jayalalithaa's contempt of court — and the Vajpayee government would fall by a single vote (269-270) in the Lok Sabha on 17 April 1999.

This is the Indian coalition story in one frame — fragile, regional, transactional, and frequently dependent on a single MP. The first stable coalition (the Vajpayee NDA II, 1999-2004), the Manmohan Singh UPA (2004-14), and the BJP-led NDA III/IV (2014-19, 2019-24, 2024-) have together reshaped Indian governance into one where the Sarkaria Commission's prescriptions — that the Governor's discretion in choosing a CM be guided by clear rules — became more vital than ever. The Punchhi Commission (2007-2010) updated those prescriptions for the GST era. The bitter Maharashtra-Goa-Karnataka horse-trading episodes since 2019 have shown that even after two such Commissions, the rules of coalition formation remain contested.

Why this matters for UPSC

Coalition politics is a GS-II Mains favourite (asked 2017, 2019, 2022), and Prelims tests the Sarkaria + Punchhi recommendations as factual recall every 2-3 years. Interview boards probe the deeper question: are the Sarkaria-Punchhi rules adequate when the GST Council, the Governor's discretion, and the anti-defection law have all evolved beyond the framework these Commissions presumed?