History
2004–2008
UPA was formed soon after the 2004 general elections when no party had won a majority. The then ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 181 seats[5] of 544, as opposed to the UPA's tally of 218 seats.
The Left Front with 59 MPs (excluding the speaker of the Lok Sabha), the Samajwadi Party with 39 MPs and the Bahujan Samaj Party with 19 MPs were other significant blocks that supported UPA at various times.[6][7] UPA did not achieve a majority, rather it relied on external support, similar to the formula adopted by the previous minority governments of the United Front, the NDA, the Congress government of P. V. Narasimha Rao, and earlier governments of V. P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar.
An informal alliance had existed prior to the elections as several of the constituent parties had developed seat-sharing agreements in many states. After the election the results of negotiations between parties were announced. The UPA government's policies were initially guided by a common minimum programme that the alliance hammered out with consultations with Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet of the 59-member Left Front.[8] Hence, government policies were generally perceived as centre-left, reflecting the centrist policies of the INC.
During the tenure of Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, the constituents of the UPA were, by mutual consent, supporting his government.[9]
On 22 July 2008, the UPA survived a vote of confidence in the parliament brought on by the Left Front withdrawing their support in protest at the India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement.[10] The Congress party and its leaders along with then SP leader Amar Singh were accused of a "cash for vote" scam as part of the cash-for-votes scandal, in which they were accused of buying votes in Lok Sabha to save the government.[11][12][13] During UPA I the economy saw steady economic growth and many people (100 million+) escaped poverty.
2009–2014
In the Indian General Election in 2009, the UPA won 262 seats, of which the INC accounted for 206. During UPA II, the alliance was broiled in scams. This ranged from 2G spectrum to Coalgate scam. These scams impacted UPA's image nationwide and the approval rating for the govt fell. In addition many members left for YSRCP. This started a domino effect with members leaving to form their own parties and parties such as DMK leaving the alliance altogether. During this time UPA struggled with state election and leadership stability. The alliance suffered a defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections as it won only 60 seats. In addition UPA won only one state election and got wiped out from Andhra Pradesh where they previously had 150+ MLA.
2015–2019
From 2014 to 2017, UPA won only 3 state elections. This was blamed on the alliance's failed leadership and weakness compared to the NDA. In addition the party lost power in states where they had once won state elections as in Bihar. In 2017 the alliance lost again. In 2018 UPA had a phenomenal comeback in the state elections as the party won important in Karnataka, Rajasthan and others. More parties joined the alliance and it was stronger than ever.
In 2019 Indian general election when UPA won only 91 seats in the general election and INC won 52 seats, thus failed to secure 10% seats required for the leader of opposition post. The alliance lost another state to BJP with the party winning by-polls and pushing the UPA into the minority.
Towards the end of 2019, the alliance made huge gains in Haryana, won in Jharkhand and formed a state-level alliance called Maha Vikas Aghadi to form the government in Maharashtra with Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena leading the ministry. Shiv Sena had been a member of NDA for twenty five years. It left NDA and joined MVA in 2019.[14]
2020–present
Since 2020, more parties joined the alliance. The alliance lost the Bihar election that everyone expected it to win but in 2022, ruling party JD(U) left National Democratic Alliance and rejoined Mahagathbandhan to form government in Bihar.
In addition UPA only won 1 out of the 5 state elections in 2021. However the alliance made significant gain in a number of MLA races. MVA lost control of Maharashtra due to crisis and split in Shiv Sena. However, UPA won the state election in Himachal Pradesh.
Controversies
The winter session of parliament in October 2008 came under intense criticism from the Left parties and the BJP to demand a full-fledged winter session instead of what was seen as the UPA to having "scuttled the voice of Parliament" by bringing down the sittings to a record low of 30 days in the year. The tensions between the UPA and the opposition parties became evident at an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee when the leader of opposition, LK Advani questioned the status, timing and schedule of the current session of parliament.[48]
M. Karunanidhi had said he felt "let down" by the "lukewarm" response of the Centre and had demanded amendments in the resolution on Sri Lanka.[citation needed]
One of the amendments was to "declare that genocide and war crimes had been committed and inflicted on the Eelam Tamils by the Sri Lankan Army and the administrators".
The second one was "establishment of a credible and independent international commission of investigation in a time-bound manner into the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law and crime of genocide against the Tamils". Karunanidhi said Parliament should adopt the resolution incorporating these two amendments.[49]
The UPA was criticised for its alleged involvement scams such as the Commonwealth Games Scam of 2010, the 2G spectrum case, and the Coalgate scam. Apart from the above-mentioned scams, the UPA has been under intense fire for the alleged doles handed out to the son-in-law of the Gandhi family, Robert Vadra, by UPA-run state governments.[50]
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