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Updated May 24, 2019
India’s Domestic Political Setting
Overview
BJP boosted its share to nearly 38% of the estimated 600
India, the world’s most populous democracy, is, according
million votes cast (to Congress’s 20%; turnout was about
to its Constitution, a “sovereign, socialist, secular,
67%). The influence of regional and caste-based (and often
democratic republic” where the bulk of executive power
“family-run”) parties—although blunted by the two
rests with the prime minister and his Council of Ministers
consecutive BJP majority victories—remains an important
(the Indian president is a ceremonial chief of state with
variable in Indian politics. Such parties now hold nearly
limited executive powers). Since its 1947 independence,
one-third of Lok Sabha seats. In 2019, more than 8,000
most of India’s 14 prime ministers have come from the
candidates and some 464 parties vied for parliament seats;
country’s Hindi-speaking northern regions and all but 3
33 of those parties won at least one seat. The seven parties
have been upper-caste Hindus. The 543-seat, Lok Sabha
listed below account for 84% of Lok Sabha seats (see
(House of the People) is the locus of national power, with
Figure 1).
directly elected representatives from each of the country’s
29 states and 7 union territories. The president has the
Figure 1. Major Party Representation in the Lok Sabha
power to dissolve this body. A smaller upper house of a
(543 total seats + 2 appointed)
maximum 250 seats, the Rajya Sabha (Council of States),
may review, but not veto, revenue legislation, and has no
power over the prime minister or his/her cabinet. Lok Sabha
and state legislators are elected to five-year terms. Rajya
Sabha legislators are elected by state legislatures to six-year
terms; 12 are appointed by the president.
Elections to seat India’s 17th Lok Sabha were held in April
and May 2019, when the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP, or “Indian Peoples Party”) won a sweeping and repeat
victory under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2014, the
BJP had become the first party to attain a parliamentary
majority in 30 years, and it was able to expand that majority
in 2019. Modi, a self-avowed Hindu nationalist, ran a
campaign seen as divisive by many analysts. While he and
his party have long sought to emphasize development and
The BJP’s governance agenda can be impeded in the Rajya
good governance, five years in office have brought a mixed
Sabha, where opposition parties can align to block certain
record, and this cycle revolved around nationalism, with
legislation (see Figure 2).
growing concerns among many commentators that strident
Hindu majoritarianism represents a threat both to India’s
Figure 2. Major Party Representation in the Rajya
religious minorities and to the country’s syncretic
Sabha
traditions. Still, hundreds of millions voted to keep the
(233 total seats + 12 appointed)
remarkably popular prime minister in power for another
term. The BJP, under then Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, had led a National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
coalition in power from 1999 to 2004.
The Indian National Congress Party (hereinafter “Congress
Party”) and its United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
coalition, in power from 2004-2014 with Manmohan Singh
in the top office, suffered a second crushing defeat. The
party of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru,
Congress had dominated the country’s politics from 1947-
1977. Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi (no relation to
Mohandas Gandhi), and her son, Rajiv, also served as prime
minister; both were assassinated in office. The party’s
presumed prime ministerial candidate in 2019, Rajiv’s son
Rahul, again oversaw a failure to win even the 10% of seats
Key Government Officials
required to officially lead the Lok Sabha opposition.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Chief Minister of the
The BJP and Congress are considered India’s only truly
economically dynamic and relatively developed western
national parties. In previous recent national elections they
state of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 before becoming India’s
together won roughly half of all votes cast, but in 2019 the
first-ever lower-caste prime minster. He is a longtime
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India’s Domestic Political Setting
member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS or
was a member of the Congress-led UPA from 2004-2012. It
“National Volunteer Organization”; see below).
won 22 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh was BJP president during
YSR Congress (YSRCP) was founded in 2011 by
the 2014 campaign and has served both as Chief Minister of
Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of a former Andhra Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh and as Minister of Agriculture in the previous
chief minister, after an acrimonious split with Congress, It
BJP-led government.
now dominates the state assembly, and won 22 Lok Sabha
seats in 2019.
External Affairs Minister and Overseas Indian Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj, a BJP stalwart from Harayana,
Shiv Sena is a vociferously Hindu nationalist, ethnic
has won seven parliamentary elections and was Leader of
Marathi party based in Maharashtra that has long aligned
the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha.
itself with the BJP at the national level. It won 18 Lok
Sabha seats in 2019.
Finance Minister and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun
Jaitley, an eminent corporate lawyer from Punjab and
Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), with a votebank in Bihar
former BJP national spokesman, was Minister of Law and
and Jharkhand, is led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Justice in the previous BJP-led government.
Kumar, who aligned the party with the BJP/NDA in 2017.
JD(U) won 16 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, a Shiv
Sena member from Maharashtra until 2014, led the railways
Others: Two significant regional parties, Uttar Pradesh’s
ministry until his September 2017 appointment.
Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), were
bitter rivals that struck a rare alliance to compete with the
Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a Tamil Nadu
BJP in 2019. They managed to garner a combined total of
native, served as BJP national spokeswoman and minister
of state before becoming India’s second
more than 32 million votes—about 5% of the national
-ever female
tally—and won 15 of the state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats. In
defense minister in September 2017.
Tamil Nadu, the regional All India Dravida Munnetra
National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval is a veteran
Kazhagam (AIADMK) received nearly 8 million votes
intelligence officer from Kerala who served as Director of
while winning one of the state’s 38 Lok Sabha seats.
the Intelligence Bureau from 2004 to 2005.
Federal System and State Elections
President Ram Nath Kovind, a former BJP Rajya Sabhan
The Indian Constitution divides legislative powers into a
from Uttar Pradesh, became head of state in July 2017.
Union List, a State List, and a Concurrent List. Although
Leading Parties
India’s union government is granted more powers than in
most other federal systems (including that of the United
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was born in 1980 as the
States), the State List provides state legislatures and their
political wing of the RSS, a militant Hindu nationalist and
chief ministers with exclusive powers over 66 “items,”
social service group itself founded in 1925 and progenitor
including public order; law enforcement; healthcare; and
of dozens of affiliated organizations (the “Sangh Parivar”).
power, communication, and transportation networks.
The BJP advocates Hindu nationalism (“Hindutva”) and is
right-leaning on social policy with a generally more pro-
Nearly half of Indians live in only five states—Uttar
business outlook than others, although it is also home to
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya
“swadeshi” (self-sufficiency) sentiments. The party
Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh, with more than 200 million
emerged as the only national-level competitor for the Indian
citizens, was among five states holding elections in 2017;
National Congress after 1998. The BJP won 303 Lok Sabha
these were widely previewed as being a referendum on the
seats, with 38% of the popular vote in 2019.
central government’s performance to date, and they brought
a sweeping win for the BJP, which ousted the incumbent
Indian National Congress is generally considered to be a
Samajwadi Party to take more than three-quarters of Uttar
populist, secularist, and center-left party, although a
Pradesh’s assembly seats—the largest majority for any
Congress Party-led government did preside over significant
party in the key “Hindu belt” state since 1980.
economic liberalization in the early 1990s. Rajiv Gandhi’s
widow, Sonia, is party president and their son, Rahul,
Despite some state-level setbacks in late 2018 (Congress
serves as party vice president. Both offered to resign in the
won convincingly in Madhya Pradesh and two other states),
wake of 2014’s historic electoral defeat. The UPA-leading
the BJP is now in power in 13 Indian states, with allied
party won 52 Lok Sabha seats, with 20% of the 2019 vote.
party chief ministers in another three. The Congress Party
controls four state governments, with an ally leading one
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is a Tamil Nadu-
other. Steadily broadening its state assembly presence in
based party led by former Chennai mayor M.K. Stalin.
recent years, the BJP now accounts for nearly one-third of
Social democratic with a mostly ethnic Tamil constituency,
the country’s state legislators, as compared to just over one-
the UPA member DMK won 23 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.
fifth for the declining Congress.
All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC), a professedly
secular party, wins its support in West Bengal, where party
K. Alan Kronstadt, Specialist in South Asian Affairs
leader Mamata Banerjee is also chief minister. The AITMC
IF10298
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India’s Domestic Political Setting
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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF10298 · VERSION 11 · UPDATED