The Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD, ) was a coalition of parties formed in several north Indian states after the 1967 assembly elections, made up of the

Bharatiya Kranti Dal Bharatiya Kranti Dal was a political party in India, founded by Chaudhary Charan Singh, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The party was founded at a meeting in Lucknow in October 1967. After the 1977 general election, the successor party of the ...

, the

Samyukta Socialist Party Samyukta Socialist Party (; SSP), was a political party in India from 1964 to 1974. SSP was formed through a split in the Praja Socialist Party (PSP) in 1964. In 1965, Ram Manohar Lohia merged his Socialist Party (Lohia) with SSP and conteste ...

, the

Praja Socialist Party The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party. It was founded in 1952 when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the ...

and the

Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

. The coalition opposed the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party that had hitherto single-handedly dominated Indian politics. The

1967 Indian general election General elections were held in India between 17 and 21 February 1967 to elect 520 of the 523 members of the fourth Lok Sabha, an increase of 15 from the previous session of Lok Sabha. Elections to State Assemblies were also held simultaneously ...

was a landmark election in the history of India. The ruling Congress Party was returned to power with the lowest majority it had had since independence (284 seats). It was defeated in assemblies like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, and Kerala. In many states in the north, where it had won narrow victories, its members defected to opposition parties. Consequently, the Congress governments fell and they were replaced by Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) governments. This was a coalition of legislators against the Congress - made up Jana Sangh, Socialists, Swantantra Party and Congress defectors, beside local parties.

First non-Congress government in Uttar Pradesh

The first non-Congress government in Uttar Pradesh was formed on 3 April 1967 by SVD coalition with Charan Singh as its Chief Minister.

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

was major constituent in this coalition with 98 MLAs, followed by

having 44 MLAs, Jan Congress having 21 MLAs,

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

having 14 MLAs,

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly so ...

having 12 MLAs,

having 11 MLAs, Republican party having 9 MLAs,

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

having 1 MLAs and 22 Independent MLAs. One of the constituent of SVD coalition,

wanted to completely abolish the land revenue or at least on uneconomic lands. But Charan Singh did not want to abolish it as he was worried about the resources. Another constituent in the SVD coalition,

called for the release of government employees held in preventive detention for their strikes but Charan Singh refused to budge on this matter and instead succeeded in breaking the strike. On 24 July 1967, Chandra Bhanu Gupta moved a no-confidence motion against the SVD government, but the government survived. The disagreement between Charan Singh and

became public when SSP decided to launch an agitation of ''Angrezi Hatao'' (get rid to English) and during this movement two of its ministers courted arrest. The SSP withdrew from the coalition on 5 January 1968. On 17 February 1968, Charan Singh submitted his resignation to the governor

Bezawada Gopala Reddy Bezawada Gopala Reddy (5 August 1907 – 9 March 1997) was an Indian freedom fighter, writer and politician. He was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile Indian state, Andhra State from 1955 to 1956 and later served as the Governor of Uttar Prade ...

and on 25 February 1968, President's rule was imposed on

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

References

{{Reflist Coalition governments of India Politics of Uttar Pradesh Politics of Bihar 1967 establishments in India Politics of Madhya Pradesh Praja Socialist Party Bharatiya Jana Sangh Defunct political parties in Uttar Pradesh