Centre-right alliance of political parties.
Formed in 1998.
Led by Bharatiya Janata Party.
Number of constituent parties has changed many times as some new parties join the alliance or the older allies leave.
From 1998 to 2004 it was the ruling alliance at the Centre. After a gap of 10 years or two terms of Loksabha in May 2014 the alliance regained power.
Currently besides the BJP, which controls the central government, there are many other national and regional parties controlling various state governments. In some states single parties have power and in others there are alliances ruling the state. For example the BJP, Shiv Sena, Republican Party of India, Swabhimani Paksha and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha have formed the Mahayuti during the 2014 Vidhan Sabha elections. For more details read the Wikipedia article.
A legislature having single chamber is known as unicameral legislature. The other type of legislature is bicameral legislature which has two chambers. Indian Parliament is a bicameral legislature. The Loksabha where the 543 members are directly elected by the people and the Rajyasabha which has 250 members indirectly elected by the state legislatures are its two chambers. Legislature of Maharashtra state has two chambers – Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) and Vidhan Parishad (Legislative council) and therefore its bicameral.
Many states in India have abolished their second or the upper chamber where members are indirectly elected. Currently only seven Indian states have bicameral legislatures – Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. All other states and union territories have unicameral legislatures. Avoiding duplication of work, reducing expenditure are the main objectives of having unicameral legislatures.
