58 years ago, an alliance of 7 parties was formed against Congress, 7 parties will come together once again…

Patna :- 2025 is an election year. Efforts have started to show the strength of the alliance in Bihar assembly elections. For the first time a coalition government was formed in Bihar in 1967. However, there was no pre-poll alliance. After the elections, for the first time, 7 parties had formed an alliance to oust Congress from power.

5 parties of NDA vs 7 parties of Grand Alliance: Actually the electoral alliance started only after 2000. When the Janata Party was formed after the Emergency in 1977, many parties had joined it. Later only a coalition government was formed, but today political experts are also saying that it is not possible to form a government without a coalition. That is why on one side NDA and on the other side Grand Alliance is busy in consolidating its strength. Claims are also being made from both sides that five parties of NDA will face competition from seven parties of Grand Alliance.

Foundation of coalition government in Bihar: Assembly elections will be held in Bihar for the 18th time this year. Till 2020, assembly elections have been held 17 times and the phase of alliance in these 17 assembly elections had started since 1967. Today coalition has become a compulsion to form any government. For the first time in 1967, when an alliance was formed to oust Congress from power, 7 parties were included in the government, although that alliance was formed after winning the elections. And was not very successful.

Assembly elections of 1967: Before 1967, Congress government was formed in Bihar. In 1967, both Bihar and Jharkhand used to be one state. There were a total of 312 seats in the assembly. In the assembly elections held that year, Congress got 128 seats, Samyukt Socialist Party 63, BJS 26, CPI 24, PSC 18, Jan Kranti Dal 13, CPM 04, SWUH 03 and Independents 33 seats. In such a situation, no party got absolute majority and to remove Congress from power, 7 opposition parties came together and they also got the support of independent MLAs.

The largest party in the opposition was the United Socialist Party and its leader was Karpoori Thakur, but to oust the Congress from power, he made Mahamaya Prasad of the Jan Kranti Dal the Chief Minister and himself became the Deputy Chief Minister. However, the government did not last long.
Assembly elections in 1969: Mid-term elections were held in 1969. Even in the midterm elections, Congress got only 118 seats. On 16 February 1970, Indira Gandhi's Congress formed the government with the support of parties like Prajatantrik Socialist Party, Shoshit Dal, Loktantrik Kranti Dal. But the government did not work and fell in December 1970, after which the government was formed under the leadership of Karpoori Thakur, in which 5 parties like Jan Sangh, Sangathan Congress, Democratic Congress, Shoshit Dal, Bharatiya Kranti Dal supported.

Assembly elections held in 1972: Congress again got majority in this election. Congress won 167 seats and the Congress government continued till 1977.
Assembly elections of 1977: After the Emergency, the Congress government lost the elections at the Center and in the assembly elections held in Bihar, the socialists formed the Janata Party. Many parties had merged. Janata Party got 214 seats, Congress got only 57 seats. CPI won 21 seats, CPM four, JKD two and independents won 24 seats. Janata Party formed the government under the leadership of Karpoori Thakur along with opposition Congress party Jan Sangh, Lok Dal and other parties.
Elections were held again in 1980 and this time Congress got absolute majority. Congress Indira had won 167 seats and by 1990, Congress was back in power in Bihar.

The 1990s began with a coalition government in Bihar. By this time the condition of Congress had deteriorated. Even in the opposition, new youth had established their political identity. It was in this context that the 1990 assembly elections were held. 1990 Assembly elections: Janata Dal, formed by the merger of several parties, contested Bihar elections for the first time.

The era of becoming many CMs is over: Janata Dal contested 276 seats and won 122 seats and became the largest party. At the same time, Congress got 71 seats out of 323 seats and BJP got 39 seats out of 237 seats. Communist Party of India contested 109 seats and won 23 seats. JMM was able to win 19 out of 82 seats. Then Janata Dal government was formed in Bihar under the leadership of Lalu Yadav. Only after these elections, the era of many Chief Ministers becoming Chief Ministers in the same tenure in Bihar also ended.

Assembly elections in March 1995: Before 1995, Janata Dal started disintegrating. In 1994, Nitish Kumar separated by forming Samata Party. In the elections, Janata Dal contested 264 seats and won 167 seats. Whereas, BJP won 41 seats. Apart from this, Samata Party won 7 seats and Congress won 29 seats. Due to Lalu Prasad Yadav going to jail in the fodder scam, Lalu Prasad made Rabri Devi the Chief Minister. There was a lot of controversy over this and in 1997, Lalu Prasad separated from Janata Dal and formed RJD. After this, Rabri Devi became the Chief Minister with the support of Congress.

Assembly elections in March 2000: This was the last election of Bihar with Jharkhand because after this Jharkhand got separated. In this election, BJP had an alliance with Samata Party and RJD had an alliance with a leftist party. RJD had contested elections on 293 seats and got 124 seats. BJP had secured 67 seats out of 168. Apart from this, Samata Party had got 34 out of 120 seats and Congress had got 23 out of 324 seats. Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister for 7 days but resigned due to not proving majority. After this, Rabri Devi became the Chief Minister with the support of Congress and this government lasted till 2005.
Bihar Assembly 2005: Elections were held in February 2005 in which no one got majority but in the assembly elections held in November 2005, NDA got majority. In this election, there was an alliance of BJP and JDU in NDA. BJP won 55 seats and JDU won 88 seats, 31.02% vote percentage. UPA was formed in opposition at that time. In which RJD 54, Congress 9, NCP one, CPI(M) one, total 4 parties won 65 seats and got 30.9% votes. NDA government was formed with majority. Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister and Sushil Kumar Modi was made the Deputy Chief Minister.

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