Is it the end of coalition era?

For the first time in 25 years a single party has emerged the majority party in the Lok Sabha. The BJP has secured as much as 285 seats in the Lok Sabha this election - the highest ever secured by the BJP in any general election so far.

The BJP's 272+ mission was already achieved in the first half of the day. The NDA has secured 333 seats in the Lok Sabha which is almost 60% of the Lok Sabha's capacity.

After this historic win, the BJP can form the government on its own, without support from any other party. Even though the BJP has expressed that it is open to all alliances, the number of seats indicate that they could be ruling the government all by themselves.

So has the tradition of coalition politics come to an end? The UPA-I government of 2004 was formed due to the external support of the Left parties, and in 2009 while the UPA-II was also formed by the coming together of various regional parties with the Congress.

The major problems coalitions have faced in the past have been the inability to take swift decisions be it national or international issues. The biggest example of this can be seen in the withdrawal of the Left after the Indo-US nuclear deal. Coalition governments have also been stretched for long periods of time delaying decisions on many key issues faces by the country.

Another setback of a coalition government is the inability to keep corruption in check - 2G scam during the UPA 2 regime in which top leaders of the DMK were charged. A majority by a single party might bring up some new developments. Decisions might be taken faster, bills would be passed quicker and governments would be stronger.