Janata Dal (Secular)

The Janata Dal (Secular) (transl. People's Party (Secular); abbr. JD(S)) is an Indian political party recognised as a state party in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh. It was founded by the former prime minister of India H. D. Deve Gowda in July 1999 as a breakaway faction from the Janata Dal.^[4][5]

Janata Dal (Secular)
Abbreviation	JD(S)
Leader	H. D. Kumaraswamy
President	H. D. Deve Gowda
Lok Sabha Leader	H. D. Kumaraswamy
Rajya Sabha Leader	H. D. Deve Gowda
Founder	H. D. Deve Gowda
Founded	July 1999 (25 years ago) (July 1999)
Preceded by	Janata Dal
Headquarters	JP Bhavan, 19/1, Platform Road, Seshadripuram, Bengaluru, Karnataka-560020
Student wing	Student Janata Dal (Secular)
Youth wing	Yuva Janata Dal (Secular)
Women's wing	Mahila Janata Dal (Secular)
Labour wing	Karmikara Janata Dal (Secular)
Ideology	Socialism (India) Left-wing populism
Political position	Left-wing[1]
Colours	Green
ECI Status	State Party[2]
Alliance	NDA (National Level, Karnataka) Left Democratic Front (Kerala) (rebel group)[3]
Seats in Lok Sabha	2 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	1 / 245
Seats in State legislative assemblies of India	Karnataka Legislative Assembly 18 / 224 Kerala Legislative Assembly 2 / 224
Seats in Karnataka Legislative Council	8 / 75
Number of states and union territories in government	1 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
jds.ind.in
Politics of India Political parties Elections

History

The Janata Dal (Secular), formed in 1999, had its origins in the Janata Party, founded in 1977 as a coalition of several smaller parties that combined forces to oppose the Indian National Congress.^[6] In 1988 the Janata Party and other smaller parties merged to form the Janata Dal.^[7][8][9] In 1996, Janata Dal reached its pinnacle when H. D. Deve Gowda became Prime Minister of India, heading the United Front (UF) coalition government.^[10][11]

The Janata Dal split in 1999, when a faction led by Chief Minister J. H. Patel lent support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance leading to the formation of Janata Dal (Secular) under H. D. Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah. The Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal, the Lok Shakti and the Samata Party merged as the Janata Dal (United).^[12][13] Even though the premise for the split was its opposition to allying with the National Democratic Alliance, H. D. Deve Gowda stayed equally away from the Indian National Congress from the outset.^[14]

The 2004 Karnataka Assembly election witnessed the revival of the party's fortunes with JD(S) becoming part of the ruling coalition in the state.

On 14 April 2015, the JD(S), Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Indian National Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, and Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) announced that they would merge into a new national Janata Parivar alliance in order to oppose the BJP, thus leaving the UPA.^[15] It has a political presence mainly in Karnataka and is in decline. In September 2023, JD(S) joined the BJP controlled National Democratic Alliance. In Kerala, the party had a small state unit which is part of the state government coalition, the Left Democratic Front. The state unit has refused to be part of the right wing NDA and are in rebellion against their national leadership for having joined hands with the BJP.^[16][17]

Prominent members

• H. D. Deve Gowda, President of Janata Dal (Secular), Former Prime Minister of India and Former Chief minister of Karnataka
• H. D. Kumaraswamy, Union Minister of Heavy Industries of Government of India, Former Chief Minister of Karnataka and Karnataka State President of Janata Dal (Secular)
• H. D. Revanna, former cabinet minister, present MLA, Karnataka (son of H. D. Deve Gowda).
• Nikhil Gowda, state president, Yuva Janata Dal (Secular)
• B. M. Farooq, current MLC of Karnataka Legislative Council, current national general secretary of Janata Dal (Secular)
• C. S. Puttaraju, former minister for small irrigation resources, and former member of parliament, Lok Sabha from Mandya
• GT Devegowda, former minister for higher education, and member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Chamundeshwari (Vidhana Sabha constituency
• Oommen Thalavady, former MLA Kuttanad, Kerala Legislative Assembly
• Sarekoppa Bangarappa, former chief minister of Karnataka^[18]
• N. M. Joseph, vice president of Janata Dal (Secular)
• D. Kupendra Reddy, Former MP of Rajya Sabha^[19][20]
• Mathew T. Thomas, Kerala State president of Janata Dal (Secular) and former Kerala State minister
• Jose Thettayil, vice president of Janata Dal (Secular), former minister Govt. of Kerala.
• Neelalohithadasan Nadar, former Kerala State president of Janata Dal (Secular) (former minister Govt. of Kerala; former member of Parliament, Govt. of India)
• K. Krishnankutty, current Kerala State minister for electricity department

Electoral performance

Assembly election history in Karnataka

Year	Seats contested	Seats won	+/-	Voteshare (%)	+/- (pp)	Outcome
1999	203	10 / 224	10	10.42	10.42	Opposition
2004	220	58 / 224	48	20.77	10.35	Government
2008	219	28 / 224	30	18.96	1.81	Opposition
2013	222	40 / 224	12	20.09	1.13
2018	199	37 / 224	3	18.3	1.79	Government, later Opposition
2023	209	19 / 224	18	13.29	5.01	Opposition

Assembly election history in Kerala

Year	Assembly election	Seats contested	Seats won	Votes secured	Percentage of votes
2001	11th Assembly	12	3	546,917	3.48%
2006	12th Assembly	7	5	353,111	2.27%
2011	13th Assembly	5	4	264,631	1.52%
2016	14th Assembly	5	3	293,274	1.5%
2021	15th Assembly	4	2	265,789	1.28%

Lok Sabha election history

Year	Lok Sabha election	Seats contested	Seats won	Votes secured
1999	13th Lok Sabha	96	1	33,32,702
2004	14th Lok Sabha	43	3	57,32,296 [21]
2009	15th Lok Sabha	21	3	33,35,530
2014	16th Lok Sabha	26	2	37,10,060 [22]
2019	17th Lok Sabha	8	1	33,97,229
2024	18th Lok Sabha	3	2	22,16,350

Legislative leaders

List of union cabinet ministers

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Portfolio	Term in office			Constituency (House)	Prime Minister
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		H. D. Kumaraswamy (1959–)	Ministry of Heavy Industries	9 June 2024	Incumbent	158 days	Mandya (Lok Sabha)	Narendra Modi
			Ministry of Steel

List of chief ministers

Chief Ministers of Karnataka

Further information: List of chief ministers of Karnataka

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term in office			Assembly (Election)	Constituency	Ministry
			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		H. D. Kumaraswamy (1959–)	3 February 2006	8 October 2007	2 years, 308 days	12th (2004)	Ramanagara	Kumaraswamy I
			23 May 2018	23 July 2019		15th (2018)	Channapatna	Kumaraswamy II

List of deputy chief ministers

Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka

Further information: List of deputy chief ministers of Karnataka

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term in office			Assembly (Election)	Constituency	Chief Minister
			Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		Siddaramaiah (1947–)	28 May 2004	5 August 2005	1 year, 69 days	12th (2004)	Chamundeshwari	Dharam Singh
2		M. P. Prakash (1940–2011)	8 August 2005	28 January 2006	173 days		Hoovina Hadagali

See also

• List of political parties in India
• Samata Party

References

1. Mukherjee, Pampa; Saxena, Rekha; Mitra, Subrata (16 June 2022). The 2019 Parliamentary Elections in India Democracy at the Crossroads?. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9781000591057.
2. "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
3. "BJP overall, Left in Kerala: JD(S) likely to lose state unit as banner of revolt is raised". 24 September 2023.
4. "EC to hear Janata Dal symbol dispute". Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
5. "The Nation:Janata Dal:Divided Gains (India Today article)". Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
6. "britannica.com : Janata Dal (Secular)".
7. "article on Chandrashekar". Archived from the original on 12 February 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
8. "Bouquet of ideologies - article in the Hindu". Retrieved 30 September 2007.
9. "Janata Dal". Retrieved 30 September 2007.
10. "Profile of Deve Gowda on PMO website". Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
11. History « Welcome to Janata Dal (Secular) Official Website Archived 19 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Jds.ind.in. Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
12. "Janata.in". www.janata.in.
13. Archived 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
14. ""Gowda rules out tieup with Congress " - Tribune India article". Retrieved 30 September 2007.
15. "'Janata Parivar' formalised, Mulayam Singh named chief of new party | Zee News". Zeenews.india.com. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
16. "BJP overall, Left in Kerala: JD(S) likely to lose state unit as banner of revolt is raised". The Indian Express. 24 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
17. "Over 60 JD(S) office bearers to resign today over alliance with BJP; 30,000 estimated to leave in coming days". Hindustan Times.
18. D A I J I W O R L D. D A I J I W O R L D (2011-08-10). Retrieved on 2014-05-21.
19. "Kupendra Reddy files papers as JD(S) candidate for RS polls". The Hindu. 8 June 2014. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
20. "D. Kupendra Reddy". PRSIndia. 25 October 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
21. "Statistical Report on General Elections, 2004" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
22. "Partywise Trends & Result". 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014.