ABSTRACT
Introduction In contrast to the all-India level, there has been considerably more variation in party system format, patterns of government formation and stability in the Indian states. Some states have followed the national pattern more closely than others and there are also states where the pattern of party competition has not changed at all since 1989. The central task of this chapter is to provide an explanation for this variation by attempting to answer the following questions:
1 What accounts for variation in electoral and legislative fragmentation in the state party systems?
