AMITY UNIVERSITY RAJASTHAN

AMITY LAW SCHOOL

FEDRALISM ASSIGNMENT
ON
Coalition of Government

Submitted to:

Submitted by:

Miss Mona

Radha Bansod

Faculty of law

B.Com LL.B (Hons)

IX sem

Introduction
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political
parties cooperate, reducing the dominance of any one party within that coalition. The usual
reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in
the parliament. A coalition government might also be created in a time of national difficulty or
crisis, for example during wartime, or economic crisis, to give a government the high degree of
perceived political legitimacy, or collective identity it desires while also playing a role in
diminishing internal political strife. In such times, parties have formed all-party
coalitions (national unity governments, grand coalitions). If a coalition collapses, a confidence
vote is held or a motion of no confidence is taken.
India has had coalition governments at the Centre as well as in individual states since the last two
decades. Since India is a diverse country with different ethnic, linguistic and religious
communities, it also has diverse ideologies. Due to this, the benefit that a coalition has is that it
leads to more consensus based politics and reflects the popular opinion of the electorate.
In order to have stable coalitions, it is necessary that political parties moderate their ideologies
and programme. They should be more open to take others point of view as well. They must
accommodate each others interests and concerns. But this is not what is happening in India. In
India, parties do not always agree on the correct path for governmental policy. Different parties
have different interests and beliefs and it is difficult to sustain a consensus on issues when
disagreements arise. They often fail to see eye to eye with the government on many public
policies. However, this is not to say that we have never had successful coalitions. Governments
in Kerela and West Bengal and NDA at the Centre have been successful coalitions. Other
coalitions should learn from these because it is difficult to operate in an environment full of
disagreements.
The fact of the matter is that India has had coalition governments in the past and it will continue
to have in the future as well. Therefore, it is in best interest for all that parties develop a sense of
understanding and do not play games of power politics and bad politics. It is high time that the
MPs realize how bad India fares on other economic variables in the world, and it is time they put
their energy in improving those than just catering to their selfish interests.
If political parties feel that coalitions are too much of a compromise and always lead to unstable
governments, then India can think of alternative forms of government the ; presidential system
can be one but it has its own cons. It is very important for the political parties to moderate their
ideas as there are no ready made formulas or easy solutions to make coalitions work in a smooth
manner.
Political systems are classified into federal and unitary forms of governance based on the
distribution or concentration of powers between the centre and the state or in the centre
respectively. The word federalism is derived from the Latin word Foedus, which according to

Lewis Latin Dictionary means League or treaty or compact or alliance or contract or marriage
contract. This word was first coined by the Theologians in the seventeenth century in order to
describe the system of holy enduring covenant between god and man. But later on it became
related to the theories of social contract and was associated with the desire to build political
society. Thus, federalism is a concept applied to a political system characterized by two levels of
government deriving powers and functions from an authority which is not controlled by either
level of government. The upper level of government is the national or central government and
the lower level of government may be called a province or state or canton. Federalism requires
understanding and negotiations between the centre and state governments in the making and
implementation of policies.
The term coalition is derived from the Latin word coalition meaning to go or grow together.
Thus it means an act of coalescing or uniting into one body or alliance. It indicates the
combination of a number of bodies or parts into one body or whole. In the political sense it is
used to indicate an alliance or temporary union between various political groups for the exercise
or control of political power. Professor Ogg defines coalition in the Encyclopaedia of Social
Sciences, as cooperative arrangements under which distinct political parties or at all events
members of such parties unite to form a Government or Ministry. Thus, it can be said that result
of the exigencies of competitive multi-party system in a parliamentary democracy is coalition. It
is a phenomenon where more than two political parties come together to form a government ,
sinking their basic ideological differences in the event of the inability of any single party to
command a workable majority in the lower House of the legislature.
Generally coalitions are said to be formed on account of one of the following reasons:
1. No single political party is able to secure a working majority in the popular house on account
of the presence of multi-party system. Under these circumstances a number like-minded political
parties form the coalition to provide a workable majority and run the government.
2. In a Bi-party system a deadlock may be created due of even balance between two parties
allying itself with a minor group such as neutral or defectors till the majority in its favour.
3. A coalition may be necessitated by a national crisis when the various political groups may
suspend their political strife and collaborate in the general cause of protecting and promoting
their national interest.
Nature of Indian Federalism:
The history of the Indian federalism can be traced back to the provisions enshrined in the
Government of India Act, 1935. The Indian constitution fulfils the requirement of a federal
system by prescribing the presence of two levels of governance simultaneously operating at (I)
national, central and federal government; (ii) state, regional and provincial government along
with the division of powers between centre and state allocated by the constitution.

Though there is distribution of powers between centre and state in the Indian Federation and the
respective areas of competence of each is earmarked, the constitution of India provides for a
larger concentration of powers on the central government. In State of Rajasthan v. Union of
India, it was quoted that according to Granville Austin, the Constitution of India was perhaps the
first constituent body to embrace from the start what A.H. Birch and others have called
cooperative federalism. Chief Justice Beg called the Constitution amphibian,....If then our
Constitution creates a Central Government which is amphibian, in the sense that it can move
either on the federal or on the unitary plane, according to the needs of the situation and
circumstances of a case.... Thus one can say that Indian Federation is based on Co-operative
federalism.
Emergence of coalition Government in India:
The process of fragmentation of the national party system and emergence of minority or coalition
governments started in India from 1967. This period also marked the emergence of coalitions and
also new parties and mergers along with breakup of some parties and absorption of the others.
This began the era of Coalition Politics or Multi party rule in India. The adoption of multi party
system and regionalism changed the centre-state relations to a certain extent. Participation of
many regional parties in the coalition government at the centre particularly indicates the
significant shift from centralised governance towards shared rule and federal governance.
Coalition Government And Its Impact On Centre State Relations:
With the increase in the regional parties participation the Indian government both at the centre
and state has led to various changes and impact on Centre- State relation. The impact of the
Coalition government on Centre- State relations can be discussed under the following headings
in light of the recent political developments:
1. The office of the Governor;
2. The increase in the demand for State autonomy.
1. Office Of Governor:
In the recent times the appointment of the governor has gone through a rough phase due to
coalition form of government. Political compulsions to form the government especially at the
national level solely guided by the majority gaining political party certainly results in
deteriorating Centre- State relations. Further also it would make the office of Governor exposed
to vulnerabilities of the political pressures. For example, recent wholesale removal, transfer and
resignations of the Governors of Rajasthan, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, who were previously
appointed by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and more particularly the
way in which the government of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) dealt with the Governor of
Tamil Nadu by getting into a avoidable controversy of a political natures proves beyond any

doubt that the politics in India has gone a long way to come within the grips of co-operative
federalism.
The recent Tamil Nadu case in relation to the change of the governor, more particularly to satisfy
the coalition partner from the state and that too against the will of the ruling party in the State of
Tamil Nadu without substantial and reasonable grounds for such a drastic step gives proof to the
fact that there is a requirement of strengthening the office of the Governor in India. Further this
situation was more complicated with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister moving to the Supreme
Court by filing an affidavit which contained some excerpts from her conversation with the Home
Minister, which the opposition and then the member of the Coalition Government at the National
level argued that this was a violation of the OSA or Oath of Secrecy.Even though the controversy
was subsided legally with the Supreme Court declining to grant interim relief to the government
of Tamil Nadu in order restrain the Centre from transferring the governor without the consent of
the Chief Minister of the State, has to a large extent effected the relations between Centre and the
State. Also another example which can be cited here is, in order to prove that under coalition
government the office of Governor is dictated by political compulsions is the UPA governments
pressure to change the Governor of Bihar Rama Jois.
2. State Autonomy:
The participation of regional parties in the Centre has significantly impacted Indian federal
structure. The formation of coalition government has resulted to a large extent deviation from the
characteristic of Indian federalism with centralising tendencies. With regional parties emergence
the demand for state autonomy has increased drastically.
The participation of regional parties has resulted in unstable, weak government at the centre.
Every party to the coalition attempts to assert its own geographical, cultural and economic
interests in the political process. The regional parties emphasis on the development of their
region instead of focussing on the development of the nation as a whole.
It necessary at this point to note the recent demand of Tamil Nadu to fully give the power
generated by a power station located in its state instead of allotting the power to the national grid
and share power according to Central Electricity Authority gives a picture of the unusual demand
of a regional party which overrides national priority.
The Telangana is also one of the issues which affect the formation coalition government at the
centre. Though UPA government at the centre has recommended creation of telangana state, the
process looks difficult, because of coalition compulsions. The central government is in a state of
fix whether to divide Andhra Pradesh into two states or not. Since if the central government will
not agree for the division it cannot persuade Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) into alliance in
2014 general elections.

This is how regional parties play a very crucial role in the formation of coalition government at
the centre.
Conclusion:
It is true that the Indian did not have a very good experience with coalition Government
experiments. But the Coalition Government in India is here to stay. In the light of above
mentioned impact of coalition government on Centre State relations I would to suggest few
reforms for the proper regulation of the Coalition form of Government.
1. The coalition government must be made Legitimate. A Broad base programme as suggested by
Second Reforms Commission must be adopted so that Socio- economic development of the
country is met.
2. The Governors office must be made free from the clutches of the political parties and reforms
must be brought about for the same in order to maintain the sanctity of the office of the
Governor.
Thus, in the end it can be said that though the coalition form of Government provides an
opportunity to different to Socio-Cultural and Economic parties to participate in the Governance
of the Nation, it brings about a lot of turf between the Centre and State. The regional parties at
the centre attempt to articulate and aggregate regional interests irrespective interest of Nation
which in turn affects the overall development of the Nation. Also the most important office
which is necessary for the proper maintenance of centre state relations that is the Office of the
Governor is also politicised in order to maintain the stability of the coalition government.