United Opposition (India)

The United Opposition^[5] was an electoral alliance formed between various opposition parties in India ahead of the 2022 elections in India.^[6][7][8] The United Opposition was first proposed by the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee.^[9]

United Opposition
Abbreviation	UO
Founded	2022
Dissolved	2023
Succeeded by	Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
Ideology	Secularism[1] Social democracy[2] Big tent[3][4]
Political position	Centre-left to left-wing
Seats in Lok Sabha	121 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha	92 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies	1,619 / 4,036
Politics of India Political parties Elections

Foundation

To fight against NDA in 2022 Indian presidential election, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, TMC supremo, Mamata Banerjee proposed an electoral alliance.^[10]

Member parties

Party[a]		MPs in Lok Sabha	MPs in Rajya Sabha	MLAs	Base State
	Indian National Congress (INC)	53	36	692	National Party
	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM)	3	5	87	National Party
	Communist Party of India (CPI)	2	2	21	National Party
	Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)	5	4	58	National Party
	All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)	23	13	233	National Party
	Aam Aadmi Party	1	10	156	Delhi, Punjab, Goa
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)	24	10	139	Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
	Samajwadi Party (SP)	3	3	112	Uttar Pradesh
	Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)	3	1	15	Kerala
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (JKNC)	3	-	-	Jammu and Kashmir
	Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK)	1	-	4	Tamil Nadu
	Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)	1	-	-	Kerala, West Bengal
	Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)	-	6	80	Bihar
	Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)	-	1	9	Uttar Pradesh
	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK)	-	1	-	Unrecognised
	Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (CPIML)	-	0	13	Bihar
Total		121	92	1619	India

2022 Presidential elections

The United Opposition nominated Yashwant Sinha, former External Affairs Minister, former Finance Minister, and Trinamool Congress leader, as their presidential candidate for the 2022 Indian presidential election. Later Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and both factions of Shiv Sena (SS) supported the NDA nominated candidate Droupadi Murmu for the presidential election instead.^[11] Sinha finished in second place in the elections.

Name	Born	Current or previous positions	Home state	Date announced	Result	Ref
Yashwant Sinha	(1937-11-06) 6 November 1937 (age 87) Patna, Bihar	External Affairs Minister of India (2002-2004) Leader of the House (Rajya Sabha) (1990-1991) Finance Minister of India (1990-1991, 1998-2002) Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Hazaribagh (1998-2004, 2009-14) Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand (2004-2009) Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Bihar (1988-1994)	Jharkhand	21 June 2022	Lost with 35.97% votes against Droupadi Murmu with 64.03%[12]	[13]

2022 Vice Presidential election

The United Opposition nominated Margaret Alva, former Governor of Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, former Union Minister and Congress leader, as their Vice Presidential candidate for the 2022 Indian Vice Presidential election. However, the leading party of the Opposition, AITC, decided to abstain from voting due to insult of the dignity of the party by other parties as they did not consult or seek consent before declaring a VP candidate.^[14][15][16] Alva finished in second place in the elections.

Name	Born	Positions held	Home state	Date announced	Result	Ref
Margaret Alva	(1942-04-14) 14 April 1942 (age 82) Mangalore, Karnataka	Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka (1974-1998) MP from Kanara (1999-2004) Governor of Rajasthan (2012-2014) Governor of Uttarakhand (2009-2012) Governor of Gujarat and Governor of Goa (2014)	Karnataka	17 July 2022	Lost with 25.63% votes against Jagdeep Dhankhar with 74.37%[17]	[18]

See also

• Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
• United Progressive Alliance

References

1. "UPA and secularism".
2. Agrawal, S. P.; Aggarwal, J. C., eds. (1989). Nehru on Social Issues. New Delhi: Concept Publishing. ISBN 978-817022207-1.
3. Lowell Barrington (2009). Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices. Cengage Learning. p. 379. ISBN 978-0-618-49319-7.
4. Meyer, Karl Ernest; Brysac, Shareen Blair (2012). Pax Ethnica: Where and How Diversity Succeeds. PublicAffairs. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-61039-048-4. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
5. "President Election 2022 : United Opposition nominates Yashwant Sinha as its candidate". Archived from the original on 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
6. "Presidential candidate | Both Sinha and Murmu has Jharkhand connection". eNewsroom India. 2022-06-21. Archived from the original on 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
7. "Presidential Polls: 17 Opposition Parties Promise to 'Consolidate' Unity". Archived from the original on 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
8. Nair, Sobhana K. (21 June 2022). "With Yashwant Sinha on board, the Opposition hopes to bring Nitish Kumar to tilt scales in presidential polls". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
9. "United Opposition: Congress welcomes Mamata Banerjee's call, but say it has to play 'pole position'". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2022-07-24.
10. "United Opposition: Congress welcomes Mamata Banerjee's call, but say it has to play 'pole position'". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
11. "NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu set to get over 60 per cent votes in presidential poll". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 2022-07-14. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
12. Live, A. B. P. (2022-07-21). "64 फीसदी वोट के साथ द्रौपदी मुर्मू की शानदार जीत, यशवंत सिन्हा को तीन राज्यों में नहीं मिला वोट". www.abplive.com (in Hindi). Retrieved 2023-12-18.
13. "Presidential Election Live Updates: Droupadi Murmu to be NDA's presidential candidate". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
14. Singh, Shiv Sahay (2022-07-21). "TMC to abstain from voting in vice-president polls". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 2022-07-22. Retrieved 2022-07-23.
15. "A Peek into Mamata's Mind: Why TMC Is Abstaining from Voting in Vice Presidential Election". News18. 22 July 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2022-07-24.
16. "Not consulted on Margaret Alva, so will skip V-P poll: TMC; not true, say Cong, CPM". The Indian Express. 2022-07-22. Archived from the original on 2022-07-24. Retrieved 2022-07-24.
17. "Jagdeep Dhankhar defeats Margaret Alva, elected Vice President of India". Hindustan Times. 2022-08-07. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
18. "Margaret Alva is Opposition's choice for Vice President, says Sharad Pawar". Hindustan Times. 2022-07-17. Archived from the original on 2022-07-17. Retrieved 2022-07-17.

Notes

1. The member party's MPs, MLAs and ECI recognition is added according to July, 2022