Consider the following statements:
(A) The phenomena of 'Congress System' collapsed with the outcome of Lok Sabha Election, 1989.
(B) In this Election Congress emerged as the second largest party in the Lok Sabha.
Which of the above statement is correct?

Question

Consider the following statements: 
(A) The phenomena of 'Congress System' collapsed with the outcome of Lok Sabha Election, 1989. 
(B) In this Election Congress emerged as the second largest party in the Lok Sabha. 
Which of the above statement is correct?

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

The 'Congress System,' a concept coined by political scientist Rajni Kothari, referred to the dominance of the Indian National Congress (INC) party, which ruled India both at the center and in most states for decades after Independence. This system was characterized by Congress's ability to maintain a hegemonic position while simultaneously accommodating diverse interests and factions within its own structure. However, this period of one-party dominance began facing severe challenges from the late 1960s, culminating in the Emergency (1975-77). While Congress regained power in 1980 and won a massive mandate in 1984 following Indira Gandhi's assassination, its political authority was already becoming shaky. The Lok Sabha Election of 1989 is widely regarded as the decisive event that fundamentally altered India's party system. In this election, the Congress party failed to secure a majority (winning 197 seats out of 529 contested) for the first time since 1977, and more critically, it was the first time that a coalition government (the National Front, supported by the BJP and Left parties) came to power without Congress at its core. This outcome irrevocably ended the era of single-party Congress dominance, signaling the collapse of the Congress System and ushering in the 'era of coalition politics' in India. Therefore, statement (A) is correct.

The incorrect options are 2, 3, and 4:

The incorrect option is 2:

Statement (B) claims that in the 1989 Lok Sabha Election, Congress emerged as the second largest party in the Lok Sabha. This is factually incorrect. In the 1989 general election, the Indian National Congress (INC) secured the highest number of seats among all political parties, winning 197 seats. Although 197 seats were not enough to form a majority government, the party was still the largest single party. The second-largest party was the Janata Dal, which won 143 seats. Since Congress was the single largest party, not the second largest, statement (B) is wrong. This makes Option 2 ('Only (B) is correct') incorrect, as well as Option 3 ('Both (A) and (B) are correct'). Since statement (A) is correct and statement (B) is incorrect, Option 4 ('Neither (A), nor (B) is correct') is also incorrect. The defining feature of the 1989 election was not Congress becoming the second party, but its failure to secure a majority, compelling a government to be formed by its opponents, which confirmed the systemic collapse of its dominance.