Global Journal of Management and Business Research, B: Economics and Commerce, Volume 22 Issue 4

Relative Concentration of Power in Lok Sabha: In order to form the government, a simple majority or a coalition majority is required in the House. This is measured by the Absolute Concentration of Power variable. However, for effective and smooth functioning of the government, Relative Concentration of Power (RCP) is essential. Relative Concentration of Power is the number of seats that the major ruling party wins in proportion to the total number of seats of the alliance it has formed in the House (Salvi, 2005; Younis et al, 2008; Bernal-Verdugo et al, 2013). A non-protected policymaker (party not having majority in the House, or having small majority) may have very little interest in trying to “push through” reform if he knows that ex-post, he can easily be blocked. On the other hand, a much protected leader may have stronger motivations to reform and legislative activity (Aghion et al, 2002). For the Major Ruling Party, Relative Concentration1of Power (R1) measures its strength within the coalition that it enters to form the government. Major Ruling Party’s Relative Concentration of Power within the Total Ruling Coalition (R1) is given as: The Major Ruling Party’s Relative Concentration of Power variable (R1) is essential to measure political stability of the major ruling party as it judges the ability/strength of the Ruling Party to form the cabinet, pass a law in the Parliament and also, to control internal disputes and bickering within the alliance. Also, in order to assess the Total Ruling Alliance’s strength, comparatively to total opposition seats; the Relative Concentration of Power is measured with respect to Total Opposition Alliance (Salvi, 2005). Thus, Ruling Alliance’s Relative Concentration of Power with respect to Opposition Alliance is given as: On the other hand, the Ruling party/Alliance’s Relative Concentration of Power variable (R2) helps to judge the strength of the Ruling alliance in the overall working of the House. For example, in 1984 Lok Sabha General Election, the Congress party won absolute majority in the House. It won 404 seats out of 514 seats. There was no alliance formed. Hence, Congress was the only ruling party. The Major Ruling Party’s Relative Concentration of Power (R1) is given as 100 percent (404/404*100 =1*100=100 percent). In this case, the Major Ruling Party is at its strongest. Higher the value of R1, better is the political stability as the major ruling party will have better decision-making powers. Figure 7: India mean chart of R1-LokSabha In 1984 election, the major opposition party (BJP) won only 22 seats. Whereas, the coalition parties won 55 seats. Hence, a coalition of opposition parties was formed. (22+55=77seats) The Ruling Alliance’s Relative Concentration of Power (R2) is given as 5.25 times (404/77=5.25 times). This shows that the Ruling Alliance is 5.25 times stronger than the Opposition Alliance in terms of seats won. 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 51.42 51.42 89.92 89.92 89.92 89.92 89.92 55.76 55.76 65.47 59.87 59.87 59.87 59.87 59.87 51.97 51.97 51.97 51.97 51.97 63.78 63.78 63.78 63.78 63.78 84.18 84.18 84.18 84.18 74.17 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 Relative Concentration of Power – Major Ruling Party (LR1)-Lok Sabha LR1 MEAN RCP (R1) = ℎ ℎ 100 RCP(R2) = ℎ ℎ How Political Stability Affects Economic Growth in India 26 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXII Issue IV Version I Year 2022 ( ) B © 2022 Global Journals