The BJP began the 2024 general election campaign chanting “abki baar chaar sau paar”, aiming to break Rajiv Gandhi’s 1984 record of 414 seats. The slogan has lost its sheen as the campaign has worn on and reality sunk in. Yet Prime Minister Narendra Modi is insistent that only a big majority government can provide a strong, stable governance model. Truth is, huge mandates damage democracy and make citizens’ lives insecure and unstable.
Majority governments are poor performers. Massive national mandates can lead to executive over-reach and misuse of State power at all levels. A hefty mandate is often over-read as advance public obedience to anything and everything a leader may choose to do and can be a licence to weaken democracy. There are few checks on overweening executive power when a ruling party is armed with overwhelming numbers. An important institutional check on executive over-reach is the coalition government.
