Q1.
Find out the name and the composition (number and name of the national and state parties) of the alliances that won in the following elections to the Lok Sabha. (Year: 1977, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019, 2024 — Alliance Won / National parties / State parties)
Answer
This is a documentary research task with a seven-row table. Fill it only from sources you can cite; the chapter gives you the background and one row's worth of information, and expects you to find the rest.
What the chapter itself tells you
- 1967 ended the era of single-party dominated elections in India, and an era of alliances began.
- In 1977, against the backdrop of the National Emergency (1975–1977), various political parties formed an alliance as the Janata Party, which formed the first coalition government at the national level, popularly known as the Janata Government.
- Since the late 1990s the two major alliances have been the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by the Indian National Congress (INC) until the UPA's dissolution in 2023 and its subsequent reconstitution as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
Method for the remaining rows
- Use the ECI's Statistical Report on the General Elections for each of the years listed. There is one report per Lok Sabha election and it gives party-wise seats and vote share.
- The reports list parties, not alliances, so you must add up the seats of the member parties yourself to see which alliance formed the government.
- For the composition, use the ECI's list of political parties for that year to sort each member into national or State party — the categories in Fig. 7.12. A party can move between categories from one election to the next, so use the list of that year, not today's list.
- Count the members and write the number and the names in the correct column.
- Cite the report and the date of access for every row.
Sample answer: the first row can be started from the chapter itself —
| Year | Alliance Won | National parties | State parties | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Janata Party — the first coalition government at the national level, formed against the backdrop of the Emergency (1975–1977) | (list the constituent parties from the ECI report for 1977, with the number) | (list, with the number) | ECI Statistical Report, General Election 1977 |
| 1999 · 2004 · 2009 · 2014 · 2019 · 2024 | (NDA or UPA / INDIA, as the ECI report and the party lists show) | (number and names) | (number and names) | ECI Statistical Report for that year |
Keep it factual. This exercise is a record of who was in which alliance, and nothing more. Do not add praise, criticism or predictions about any party or alliance — the historical composition of an alliance is a checkable fact, and that is exactly what the question asks for. Where two sources disagree about whether a small party was a member, note both and say which you followed.
Why alliances appear at all: India has a multi-party system, and under FPTP a party needs a majority of seats to govern, not a majority of votes. When no single party wins enough seats, parties that can agree on a common programme combine before or after the poll. That is why the chapter tells this story right after explaining the FPTP system and the multi-party system — the alliance era is a consequence of both.