The Changing Trends of Coalition Politics of Kerala from its Origin to 2016 in India

Abstract

The Constitution of India provide for a federal system of government though the term ‘federalism’ which is nowhere been used in the constitution. But the article 1 of the constitution describes that India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. K.C. where describes Indian federalism as “Quasi-federal”. Granville Austin called it ‘co-operative federalism.’ And Ivor Jennings describes it as ‘federation with strong centralizing tendency’. This nature of Indian federalism has leads India towards coalition.  The coalition politics at the central level has been relatively a recent phenomenon but at the state level it has been in operation right after the first general election (1952). The growth of regional parties and dominant leadership at state level has federalized the polity and the state government has stretched their arms.  The first coalition at state level formed in Kerala in 1954. The coalition politics is a time-tested thing in contemporary democracy. The concept of coalition politics occurred when the states used to ally with each other in order to defect of a common enemy. In 1954 the Congress created a coalition government in Kerala. Since this time Kerala has been living with coalition rule after regular intervals. The politics in Kerala is dominated by two coalition fronts: the communist party of India (Marxist)- led left Democratic front (LDF) and the Indian National Congress – led United Democratic Front (UDF) since late 1970s. Kerala was the first Indian state where the communists were chosen to power. Since the early 1980s these two coalitions have alternate in government. They are unable to gain re- election for a second term. These two-alliance coalition have occurred periodically and ruled continued to 2016 election. In May 2016, the LDF win election and now in power.  This LDF coalition occurred with CPI (M)-58, CPI-19, TDS-3, NCP-2, KCB-1, CPM(L)-1, CS-1 and Independents-5.