United Progressive Alliance Saṃyukta Pragatishīla Gaṭhabandhana | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | UPA |
Chairperson | Sonia Gandhi |
Lok Sabha leader | Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury |
Founded | 2004 (18 years ago) |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre-left[2] |
ECI Status | Recognised |
Alliance | 18 parties |
Seats in Lok Sabha | 88 / 543
|
Seats in Rajya Sabha | 64 / 245
|
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies | 811 / 4,036
|
Number of states and union territories in government | 6 / 31 [3]
|
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of political parties in India led by the Indian National Congress (INC). It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party got the majority.[4] UPA subsequently governed India from 2004 till 2014. UPA currently governs four states in India.
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.
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.
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]
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.
Main article: List of United Progressive Alliance members |
Main article: List of chief ministers from the Indian National Congress |
S.No | State | Name | Portrait | Cabinet | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Chhattisgarh | Bhupesh Baghel | Baghel I | ||
2. | Rajasthan | Ashok Gehlot | Gehlot III | ||
3. | Himachal Pradesh | Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu | Sukhu I | ||
4. | Jharkhand | Hemant Soren | Soren II |
S.No | State | Name | Portrait | Cabinet | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Himachal Pradesh | Mukesh Agnihotri | Sukhu I |
S.No | State/UT | UPA Govt since | Chief Minister | Alliance Partners | Seats |
Last election | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Party | Seats | Since | ||||||||
1 | Chhattisgarh | 17 December 2018 | Bhupesh Baghel | INC | 71 | 17 December 2018 | None | 71/90 | 11 December 2018 | ||
2 | Jharkhand | 28 December 2019 | Hemant Soren | JMM | 30 | 28 December 2019 | INC (17) | 50/81 | 23 December 2019 | ||
RJD (1) | |||||||||||
NCP (1) | |||||||||||
CPI(M-L) (1) | |||||||||||
3 | Rajasthan | 17 December 2018 | Ashok Gehlot | INC | 109 | 17 December 2018 | RLD (1) | 123/200 | 11 December 2018 | ||
IND (13) | |||||||||||
4 | Himachal Pradesh | 11 December 2022 | Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu | INC | 40 | 11 December 2022 | IND (3) | 43/68 | 9 November 2022 |
State/UT | MLA seats | INC | UPA | Overall seats | Chief minister party | Ref(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andhra Pradesh | 175 | 0 | None | 0 / 175
|
YSRCP | [15] | |
Arunachal Pradesh | 60 | 4 | None | 4 / 60
|
BJP (NDA) | [16] | |
Assam | 126 | 27 | CPI(M) (1) | 28 / 126
|
BJP (NDA) | [17] | |
Bihar | 243 | 19 | RJD (80) | 165 / 243
|
JD(U) (MGB) | [18] | |
JD(U) (46) | |||||||
CPI(M-L) (12) | |||||||
HAM (4) | |||||||
CPI(M) (2) | |||||||
CPI (2) | |||||||
Chhattisgarh | 90 | 71 | None | 71 / 90
|
INC (UPA) | [19] | |
Goa | 40 | 3 | GFP (1) | 4 / 40
|
BJP (NDA) | [20] | |
Gujarat | 182 | 17 | None | 17 / 182
|
BJP (NDA) | [21] | |
Haryana | 90 | 30 | None | 30 / 90
|
BJP (NDA) | [22] | |
Himachal Pradesh | 68 | 40 | IND (3) | 43 / 68
|
INC (UPA) | [23] | |
Jharkhand | 81 | 17 | JMM (30) | 50 / 81
|
JMM (UPA) | [24] | |
RJD (1) | |||||||
NCP (1) | |||||||
CPI(M-L) (1) | |||||||
Karnataka | 224 | 70 | None | 70 / 224
|
BJP (NDA) | [25] | |
Kerala | 140 | 21 | IUML (15) | 41 / 140
|
CPI(M) (LDF) | [26] | |
KC (2) | |||||||
KC(J) (1) | |||||||
RMPI (1) | |||||||
IND (1) | |||||||
Madhya Pradesh | 230 | 96 | None | 96 / 230
|
BJP (NDA) | [27] | |
Maharashtra | 288 | 44 | NCP (53) | 117 / 288
|
BSS (NDA) | [28] | |
SS(UBT) (17) | |||||||
CPI(M) (1) | |||||||
SWP (1) | |||||||
IND (1) | |||||||
Manipur | 60 | 5 | JD(U)(1) | 6 / 60
|
BJP (NDA) | [29] | |
Meghalaya | 60 | 0 | None | 0 / 60
|
NPP (NDA) | [30] | |
Mizoram | 40 | 5 | None | 5 / 40
|
MNF (NDA) | [31] | |
Nagaland | 60 | 0 | None | 0 / 60
|
NDPP (NDA) | [32] | |
Odisha | 147 | 9 | CPI(M) (1) | 10 / 147
|
BJD | [33] | |
Punjab | 117 | 18 | IND (1) | 19 / 117
|
AAP | [34] | |
Rajasthan | 200 | 109 | RLD (1) | 123 / 200
|
INC (UPA) | [35] | |
IND (13) | |||||||
Sikkim | 32 | 0 | None | 0 / 32
|
SKM (NDA) | [36] | |
Tamil Nadu | 234 | 17 | DMK (133) | 158 / 234
|
DMK (SPA) | [37] | |
VCK (4) | |||||||
CPI(M) (2) | |||||||
CPI (2) | |||||||
Telangana | 119 | 5 | None | 5 / 119
|
BRS | [38] | |
Tripura | 60 | 1 | None | 1 / 60
|
BJP (NDA) | [39] | |
Uttar Pradesh | 403 | 2 | None | 2 / 403
|
BJP (NDA) | [40] | |
Uttarakhand | 70 | 19 | None | 19 / 70
|
BJP (NDA) | [41] | |
West Bengal | 294 | 0 | None | 0 / 294
|
AITC | [42] | |
Delhi | 70 | 0 | None | 0 / 70
|
AAP | [43] | |
Jammu and Kashmir | 90 | NA | [44] | ||||
Puducherry | 33 | 2 | DMK (6) | 8 / 33
|
AINRC (NDA) | [45] | |
Total | 4126 | 651 | 441 | 1,092 / 4,036
|
UPA (4) | 31 |
Party | State | Date | Reason for withdrawal | |
---|---|---|---|---|
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam | Tamil Nadu | 2004 | Alliance with BJP. | |
Telangana Rashtra Samithi | Telangana | 2006 | Differences over proposed statehood for Telangana | |
Bahujan Samaj Party | National Party | 2008 | Congress opposed the UP government where the BSP was the ruling party | |
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party | Jammu and Kashmir | 2009 | Congress decided to support National Conference Government in Jammu and Kashmir | |
Pattali Makkal Katchi | Tamil Nadu | 2009 | PMK declared that it would join the AIADMK led front | |
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen | Telangana | 2012 | Accused Congress led State Government of Communalism | |
All India Trinamool Congress | National Party | 2012 | TMC's demands on rollbacks and reforms not met, including the governments decision to allow FDI in retail | |
Socialist Janata (Democratic) | Kerala | 2014 | It merged with Janata Dal (United) on 29 December 2014. | |
Rashtriya Lok Dal | Uttar Pradesh | 2014 | Decided to leave after 2014 election performance. | |
Janata Dal (Secular) | Karnataka | 2019 | After JD(S)-INC alliance govt fell in Karnataka, two parties decided to end alliance. | |
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party | Bihar | 2020 | Withdrawn support before Bihar Assembly Election 2020 & Allied with BSP+ on 29 September 2020. | |
Vikassheel Insaan Party | Bihar | 2020 | Withdrawn support before Bihar Assembly Election 2020 & Allied with NDA | |
Kerala Congress (M) | Kerala | 2020 | Decided to join LDF | |
Bodoland People's Front | Assam | 2021 | Withdrew due to performance in 2021 Assam election. | |
All India United Democratic Front | Assam | 2021 | Party was expelled from the alliance. |
Sr.no | Party | Seats Won | Seat Change | Vote% |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Indian National Congress | 145 | ![]() |
26.7% |
2. | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 21 | ![]() |
2.2% |
3. | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 16 | ![]() |
1.8% |
4. | Nationalist Congress Party | 9 | ![]() |
1.8% |
5. | Lok Janshakti Party | 4 | ![]() |
0.6% |
6. | Telangana Rashtra Samithi | 2 | ![]() |
0.6% |
7. | Pattali Makkal Katchi | 6 | ![]() |
0.5% |
8. | Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | 5 | ![]() |
0.5% |
9. | Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 4 | ![]() |
0.4% |
10. | Indian Union Muslim League | 1 | ![]() |
0.2% |
11. | Republican Party of India (Athawale) | 1 | ![]() |
0.1% |
12. | Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party | 1 | ![]() |
0.1% |
Total | 218 | ![]() |
35.4% |
Sr.no | Party | Seats Won | Seat Change |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Indian National Congress | 206 | ![]() |
2. | Rashtriya Janata Dal | 4 | ![]() |
3. | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 18 | ![]() |
4. | Nationalist Congress Party | 9 | ![]() |
5. | All India Trinamool Congress | 19 | ![]() |
6. | Jammu & Kashmir National Conference | 3 | ![]() |
7. | Bodoland People's Front | 1 | ![]() |
8. | Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | ![]() | |
9. | All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen | 1 | ![]() |
10. | Indian Union Muslim League | 2 | ![]() |
11. | Kerala Congress (Mani) | 1 | ![]() |
Total | 262 | ![]() |
Note that it refers to nomination by alliance, as the offices of President and Vice President are apolitical.
No. | Portrait | Name (birth–death) |
Term of office
Electoral mandates Time in office |
Previous post | Vice president | Party[46] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 | Pratibha Patil (b.1934) |
25 July 2007 | 25 July 2012 | Governor of Rajasthan | Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (2007)
Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2007–12) |
Indian National Congress | ||
2007 | ||||||||
5 years, 0 days | ||||||||
13 | Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) |
25 July 2012 | 25 July 2017 | Union Minister of Finance | Mohammad Hamid Ansari (2012–17) | |||
2012 | ||||||||
5 years, 0 days | ||||||||
No. | Portrait | Name (birth–death)[47] |
Elected (% votes) |
Took office | Left office | Term | President(s) | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
12 | Mohammad Hamid Ansari (b.1937) |
2007 (67.21) |
11 August 2007 | 10 August 2012 | 10 years, 0 days | Pratibha Patil | Indian National Congress | ||
2012 (67.31) |
11 August 2012 | 10 August 2017 | Pranab Mukherjee |
Further information: List of prime ministers of India |
No. | Prime ministers | Portrait | Term in office | Lok Sabha | Government | Cabinet | Constituency | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | Tenure | |||||||
14 | Manmohan Singh | 22 May 2004 | 22 May 2009 | 10 years, 4 days | 14th | UPA I | Manmohan Singh I | Rajya Sabha MP From Assam | |
22 May 2009 | 26 May 2014 | 15th | UPA II | Manmohan Singh II |
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]