India is a parliamentary democracy with a President as head of state and an executive Prime Minister. Since the 1980s, governments have usually been formed by coalition, as no political party has won enough seats to form a government on its own. These coalition governments have always survived their terms, although the reality of coalition politics means the party leading the coalition has often had to meet the demands of its smaller partners, which are usually regional based parties.
However, in the May 2014 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured enough seats to gain a parliamentary majority without having to rely on its partners. The BJP, however, has failed to repeat its overwhelming success in the following state elections and has formed governments in less than half of contested state assemblies.
