Column: Is parliamentary democracy the right system for India?

As India held what has been called the largest general election ever, an opinion column asked two questions: how democratic is India’s democracy, and is the parliamentary system right for the country?

President or Prime Minister

The column noted the frequent suggestion that a directly elected president could deliver development more efficiently than a prime minister, since a president is not answerable to Parliament and can pick ministers from outside it. It argued, however, that concentrating so much power in one person is less democratic and unnecessary. It pointed out that two prime ministers whose powers were tightly constrained, PV Narasimha Rao with a minority government and Atal Bihari Vajpayee with a large coalition, were among the most effective economic reformers.

The case for proportional representation

The writer argued that India would be more democratic if MPs were chosen by proportional representation, under which a party winning 30% of the votes gets about 30% of the seats. Using 2014 as an example:

• The BJP won 282 seats on only 31% of the vote, which the column called the lowest vote share ever to deliver an absolute majority.
• The Congress won 44 seats with 19.3% of the vote.
• The BSP polled 4.2% but won no seat.

With similar voting under proportional representation, the column estimated, the BJP would have had about 170 seats, the Congress about 110 and the BSP 23.

The stability argument

The column acknowledged that the main objection is unstable coalitions, but said Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh showed coalitions can last, though others have fared poorly. It cited Amit Shah’s campaign remarks in Rajasthan, including his reference to 55 years of Congress rule and his claim that the BJP would govern for the next 50 years, as signs of a push towards one-party dominance. The writer favoured coalition politics under proportional representation but doubted politicians’ willingness to make it work, concluding that a two-party system might be the most realistic outcome, which would need a Congress revival and a more restrained BJP.

What happened next

In the 2019 election the BJP won 303 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress 52, and Narendra Modi was sworn in for a second term on 30 May 2019.

See also: elections.

Originally published on 4 May 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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