United Front (India, 1996)

The United Front was a coalition government of 13 political parties formed in India after the 1996 general elections.<ref name="Ahuja1998">Template:Cite book</ref> It formed two governments in India between 1996 and 1998. N. Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party served as the convener of United Front.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The United Front was headquartered at the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> During its tenure, the government was led by two prime ministers belonging to the Janata Dal – H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral

Background

The Indian general election in 1996 returned a fractured verdict. With the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as the largest party with 161 of 543 seats, it was invited first to form a government. It accepted the offer, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the prime minister. However, he was unable to get a majority in parliament, and the government dissolved 13 days later.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At a meeting of all the other parties, the Indian National Congress, with a substantial 140 seats, declined to head the government and agreed to extend outside support to the coalition,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> whereas the Communist Party of India (Marxist) agreed to join the coalition with the Janata Dal at its head,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> named the United Front.

With the approval of the Congress and CPI(M), the sitting chief minister of Karnataka, H. D. Deve Gowda, was asked to head the coalition as Prime Minister after V. P. Singh and Jyoti Basu declined.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His term was from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Congress revoked its support for Gowda amidst discontent over communication between the coalition and the Congress. It compromised to support a new government under I. K. Gujral, who served as the prime minister from 21 April 1997 to 19 March 1998. Following the collapse of his government, fresh elections were called,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the United Front lost power.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Later, when N. Chandrababu Naidu stepped down as convener of the United Front to extend outside support to the National Democratic Alliance, the coalition disbanded.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Electoral performance

Year	Legislature	Coalition leader	Seats won	Change in seats	Percentage of votes	Vote swing	Outcome	Ref.
1996	11th Lok Sabha	N. Chandrababu Naidu	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady new	56.31%	Template:Steady new	Template:Yes2	Template:Sfn
1998	12th Lok Sabha		Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 217	20.98%	Template:Decrease 35.33%	Template:No2	Template:Sfn

List of prime ministers

No.	Portrait	Name	Term in office			Lok Sabha	Cabinet	Constituency	Party
			Start	End	Tenure
1		H. D. Deve Gowda	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	Template:Age in years and days	11th	Deve Gowda	Rajya Sabha Karnataka	Janata Dal	rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Party color;" |
2	File:Inder Kumar Gujral 017.jpg	Inder Kumar Gujral	21 April 1997	19 March 1998	Template:Age in years and days		Gujral	Rajya Sabha Bihar

Coalition members

Party		1996 Template:Small	1998 Template:Small	Seat Change
Internal support
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Asom Gana Parishad	5	0	Template:Decrease 5
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Communist Party of India	12	9	Template:Decrease 3
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	32	32	Template:Steady
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	17	6	Template:Decrease 11
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Janata Dal	46	6	Template:Decrease 40
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Samajwadi Party	17	20	Template:Increase 3
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Tamil Maanila Congress	20	3	Template:Decrease 17
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Telugu Desam Party	16	12	Template:Decrease 4
External support
style="background-color:Template:Party color; text-align: center;" |	Indian National Congress	140
Total		305	88	Template:Decrease 217