Why a Unified Opposition in India Seems Like a Political Urban Legend

While the BJP has won two national elections on its own strength, it is the fragmentation of the opposition that enabled it to convert a minority of votes into a majority of seats. This is an old, established mechanism in Indian politics by which the fragmentation of the party system and the distribution of votes between parties determine the degree of disproportionality induced by the First-Past-the-Post electoral system.