Abstract

The Constitution of India states that Federalism focuses on the distribution of power between the Central Government and State Governments. The forum where the states share power with the Central Government has been under a lot of pressure in recent years mainly because of the differing political regimes. This research paper analyzes the effect of dissimilar political regimes across India’s federalism between the years 2014 to 2019. In the ideal sense, Indian federalism is Center- State cooperative relations in decision-making while it maintains uniformity of polity across the nation. The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution follows the powers of the legislature and this assures a Federal system that recognizes the Central Authority as well as the State’s independence. However, the principal aspect of the problem pertains to the decline of Cooperative Federalism, which deals with how political regimes affect Federalism within India and the incompatibility of powers between the Federal and State Governments when they belong to different political parties which may lead to political crises in the Federal structure of the country. Such discord can be seen especially in the situations like the enforcement of the CAA when states like Kerala and West Bengal simply refused to implement Federal policies and defy the Central Government. Further, the Acts like National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, also contributed towards the centralization of powers and control over the States further adding to discontent pertaining to loss of State’s sovereignty. To meet these challenges, the paper discusses the politico-legal implications of dissimilar political regimes on Federal structure, which shows how separation of the Federal and State Governments can make way for legal suits, policy deadlock and strained cooperative governance. Thus, the doctrinal approach is used as the research methodology and involves the analysis of case law, legal doctrines, and Constitutional provisions to establish the issue at hand. The analysis also appreciates the need for achieving more balance to preserve the Federal system’s integrity while acknowledging the need for decentralization at the regional level in India as well as appreciates the need for political stability as a guarantee to the effectiveness of the Federalism system in the country.

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