ABSTRACT
The Janata Dal was one of the major success stories of the Ninth Indian General Election held from the 22nd to the 26th of November, 1989. In the November 1989 Election, the Janata Dal won 142 seats and its tiny National Front coalition partners won three additional seats for a Front total of 145. The other great success story of the Ninth General Election was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP achieved a spectacular increase, from winning only two seats in Parliament in 1984 to capturing eighty-six seats in 1989. The emergence of the Janata Dal required a long, painful process of maturation. In addition to the achievement of a considerable degree of opposition unity against the Congress, there were several overall factors which favored the Janata Dal and the other opposition parties in the 1989 Election. The long-term future of the Janata Dal government appears to be unpromising for several basic reasons.
