Consider the following statements : (i) The Lok Sabha Elections of 1989 marked the end of, what Political Scientists have called, the ‘Congress System’. (ii) Indian National Congress emerged as the single largest party in the 1989 Lok Sabha Elections.

Correct — option (2), Both (i) and (ii) are correct.

Statement (i) is true. NCERT's Class XII textbook Politics in India since Independence says that "the elections of 1989 marked the end of what political scientists have called the 'Congress system'".

The same chapter gives the numbers behind it. The Congress, which had won 415 Lok Sabha seats in 1984, was reduced to 197 in 1989. It stayed an important party but "lost the kind of centrality it earlier enjoyed in the party system".

Statement (ii) is also true. The textbook says that after the 1989 election "the Congress was the largest party in the Lok Sabha", but without a clear majority, so it decided to sit in the opposition.

The government went to the National Front — the Janata Dal and some regional parties — with support from the BJP and the Left Front, which did not join the government.

Largest party is not the same as majority: in 1989 the Congress was the single largest party and still out of power. Both statements hold, so the answer is Both (i) and (ii) are correct.

Why the others are wrong

• (1)
  Neither (i) nor (ii) is correct. — This rejects two true statements. The textbook uses the phrase "the end of what political scientists have called the 'Congress system'" for the 1989 elections themselves.

  It also says the Congress was the largest party in the Lok Sabha after that election, which is statement (ii).

• (3)
  Only (ii) is correct. — This keeps statement (ii) but drops statement (i). Statement (i) repeats the textbook's own description of 1989 as marking the end of the "Congress system".

  The book uses that term for the first decade of electoral competition, when the Congress acted both as the ruling party and as the opposition.

• (4)
  Only (i) is correct. — This keeps statement (i) but drops statement (ii). Losing power is not the same as losing first place.

  With 197 seats the Congress was still the largest party in the Lok Sabha. It sat in opposition because it did not have a clear majority.

The "Congress system" describes the first phase of India's party politics. In NCERT's account, factions inside the Congress balanced one another, so that in the first decade of electoral competition the Congress acted both as the ruling party and as the opposition.

The 1989 election closed that phase. The Congress fell from 415 seats in 1984 to 197, and no party won a majority. The National Front formed the government with support from the BJP and the Left Front, neither of which joined it.

A long phase of coalition politics followed. The textbook notes that no single party secured a clear majority in any Lok Sabha election from 1989 until 2014.

Being the largest party and forming the government are separate things. A party with the most seats but no majority can end up in opposition, as the Congress did in 1989.

Key facts

• NCERT: the elections of 1989 marked the end of what political scientists have called the "Congress system".
• The Congress won 415 Lok Sabha seats in 1984 and 197 in 1989.
• After the 1989 election the Congress was the largest party in the Lok Sabha but lacked a clear majority, and sat in opposition.
• The National Front, an alliance of the Janata Dal and some regional parties, formed the government with support from the BJP and the Left Front.
• In the 1991 election the Congress again emerged as the single largest party, and P.V. Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister.

Common traps

• Equating defeat with falling behind another party. In 1989 the Congress lost power but still had more seats than any other party.
• Reading "end of the Congress system" as the end of the Congress. The party came back to power after the 1991 election.
• Mixing up 1989 and 1991. The Congress was the single largest party after both elections, but formed the government only after 1991.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  After the Lok Sabha election of 1989, which of the following formed the government at the Centre?

  • (a)National Front
  • (b)United Front
  • (c)National Democratic Alliance
  • (d)United Progressive Alliance
  Answer(1) — the National Front formed the government in 1989 with support from the BJP and the Left Front. The NCERT textbook lists the United Front (2) in 1996 and 1997, the NDA (3) in 1999, and the UPA (4) in 2004 and 2009.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following statements about the Lok Sabha election of 1989: (i) No party won a clear majority. (ii) The BJP and the Left Front joined the National Front government as ministers. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • (a)Only (i)
  • (b)Only (ii)
  • (c)Both (i) and (ii)
  • (d)Neither (i) nor (ii)
  Answer(1) — no party had a clear majority, so (i) is correct. Statement (ii) is wrong: the BJP and the Left Front supported the National Front government but did not join it. That rules out (2) and (3); (4) wrongly rejects statement (i).