The coalition government was almost a novel concept for Indian citizens till 1989. In the year 1989, Chaudhry Charan Singh formed government for the first time with the outside support of Bhartiye Janta Party, though it was a different fact that the government could not last long. The governments of HD Devegowda and AB Vajpayee are also some of the examples of coalition experiments in our country that can be quoted with.

Another distinguishing feature that is somehow interrelated with the previous concept is the waning influence of national parties. We have also witnessed that at the national level different political party is ruling while at the state level different party rules the roost. The state politics of states like West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh etc is dominated by Trinamool Congress, Biju Janta Dal, Communist Party of India and Telugu Desham Party respectively.

During the past few years it has also come to the fore that the political alliances are based on unholy, unprincipled and greedy motives. They are based on the principles of self aggrandizement and self prospects thus negating the national interest to secondary status. Many a times political parties have stooped so low as to doubt the credibility of our defence forces and this has also undermined the security of the country in the process.

The evil that rose its head in Indian political landscape in 1966 was the “politics of defection”. Though 52 nd constitutional amendment act was brought in to control the evil of political defection, it failed in its purpose as this amendment applied only to the wholesale political defection. To rectify the anomalies that had crept into 52 nd constitutional amendment act with time, another constitutional in 2003. It provided that only 2/3 rd legislators of a political party could merge in another political party. Since then the blot of defection being a disgusting feature of Indian politics has subsided to some extent.

Another despicable feature of Indian polity which rose its ugly head and has been prominent factor currently is communalization of politics. The political stalwarts irrespective of their political affiliations make communal remarks so as to polarize the votes of a particular community. Hate speeches and communal riots became engrained in the very essence of electoral process. Nothing could be more depraving than this.

Democracy and violence are antithetical to each other. In a vibrant democracy there is no room for violence. But unfortunately criminalization of politics has become an ironic reality in today’s political culture of India. Data collated from last three general elections show hat candidates with criminal cases pending against him were three times more likely to win than a “clean” candidate. 17 percent of total 5,380 candidates who contested Lok Sabha elections in 2014 general elections declared criminal cases in their affidavits which they submitted to the election commission. Out of 17 percent of candidates, 10 percent of candidates had serious charges of rape and murder on them. It has come to the notice that political parties invariably field candidates having criminal background in every election. It has been found out in survey that while any random candidate has one out of eight chance of winning a Lok Sabha seat, a candidate who is facing a criminal charge is twice as likely to win as a clean candidate. Vote bank politics and the astronomical expenditure which has to be incurred during electioneering are the major reasons which forces a political party to field candidates having criminal back ground. In India, it has been noticed that there is little trust in the efficiency of democratic processes actually delivering outputs in good governance. This extends naturally to accepting criminalization of politics as part and parcel of one’s political life. Toothless laws to rein in the criminalization of politics and dilapidated judiciary which is burdened with millions of pending cases have further emboldened political criminalisation. The major sacrifice that is done at the altar of criminalisation of politics is that of governance as well as transparency and accountability. Expensive electioneering environment is generally conducive to the candidates with strong financial background. Those candidates when once gets elected strive to recover their expenses and also try to ensure financial security for future elections.

When someone is talking of elections in Indian context how can one be oblivious of caste factor that has always played and still plays an indispensable role in current political culture. Today the ill effects of caste based politics have assumed mammoth proportions. Candidates are contested and tickets are allotted on caste lines. Caste and politics have symbiotic relation in Indian political context. Politics provides casteist contestants with economic benefits as well as administrative patronage, prestige and power while the caste of a contestant generally influences political system in three different ways. Firstly caste of contestant reserves its votes for its own members. Secondly people generally prefer to vote for the candidate of their own caste irrespective of the fact whether the candidate is deserving or not deserving and thirdly leaders of a particular caste tend to prefer and select their own people on different posts. Members of particular caste are considered as vote bank for members of that particular caste. In constituencies dominated by upper castes such as Brahmins, Bhumihars, Kayastha and Rajputs, upper caste candidates are fielded while those constituencies which are dominated by backward castes, the candidates of backward castes invariably get tickets. Caste as the factor provides basis for the emergence of several interest groups in the country and these interest groups compete against each other in unhealthy struggle of power and acts as divisive force. Even today voting takes place on caste lines in majority of states in India. The states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajastha, Hariyana etc are ‘torch bearers’ in this regard. The political parties of Tamilnadu such as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagm and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagm(AIADMK) are self proclaimed non Brahmin party. Another ominous trend which has been seen of late is growing trend of money and muscle power in Indian politics. It is closely entwined with criminalisation of politics. The concept and existence of “Baahubali” in Indian elections is a stark reality. The so called “Baahubalis” not only have higher chance of winning an election but they also enjoy the capacity of swirling the electoral wind in favour of or against any political party. They are endowed with immense clout in terms of money and muscle power. Raja Bhaiya, Mukhtaar Ansaari, Brijesh Singh are some of the known ‘baahubalis’ . With growing awareness of the masses and strict enforcement of rules, their unbridled role in influencing electoral results have been reined in to a significant extent. Of late it has been noticed that there is reemergence of personality cult in Indian political scene. Voting pattern is tend to be polarized on personality of individual rather than promises and performance of the political party. Narendra Modi was inarguably the biggest personality cult in Indian elections of 2014, and in 2019 elections also he is reckoned to be personality cult who could swing votes. During elections votes are sought in the name of leaders and voters are requested to strengthen hand of the leaders of their party.

Politics of vendetta has become a curse of Indian politics. Quite often politicians are seen openly threatening their detractors and taking revenge once they come to power. Politicians coming across different party lines openly intimidate the bureaucrats. The leaders of ruling dispensation instead of indulging in clean politics are busy in taking revenge from their detractors once they come to power. Populist politics though not a new trend has become a stark reality of today’s political landscape of India. The election process which is going on now a days has brought to the fore this fact once again. Farm loan waiver and various other slogans are being given just to muster the attention of the public irrespective of the fact whether the state has got the capacity to fulfill the promise. During the 1977 general elections, Janta party had the slogan of ‘democracy versus dictatorship’ while congress party banked on the slogan of ‘stability versus anarchy’. In the same way during general elections of 1991, Congress gave slogan of ‘stability and development’, Bhartiye Janta Party gave slogan of ‘Ram, Roti and Nyaya’ and Janta Dal of ‘social justice’ .

Politics of mass rallies and road shows are also one of the many emerging trends of Indian polity. Although mass rallies used to happen earlier also but there is drastic increase in their frequency and intensity. Big political stalwarts carry out road shows to garner attention of the public and fetch votes.

Besides there are other umpteen number of changes which are perceived now a days in Indian Polity . There is alarming presence of dynastic politics. Children of politicians have started considering their party as their own fief. Practice of outside support and increase in number of coalition partners to form the government has become the order of the day. The fractured mandate and hung parliaments too have become common, though this trend was an exception in last couple of general elections. There is also steep decline in ideology of different political parties.