Jan Morcha

The "Jan Morcha" (literally, the 'People's Front') was founded by Vishwanath Pratap Singh when he was dismissed from his post of Defence Minister and subsequently left the Congress Party in 1987. Together with Arun Nehru and Arif Mohammed Khan, he formed a nucleus of opposition to the government of Rajiv Gandhi which at that time possessed a commanding majority in the Lok Sabha ["Congress Decline and Party Pluralism in India", by C. Candland, "Journal of International Affairs", 1997.] .

Following the increasing visibility of his stand against corruption in public life and his growing popularity, the other social-democratic parties like the Lok Dal - many of them survivors of the original Janata Party - came together and merged with the Jan Morcha to form the Janata Dal to fight the 1989 General Elections, in which the anti-Congress Opposition as a whole gained a plurality of seats.

Following the Janata Dal's time in power and its subsequent split and decline, V.P. Singh, after surviving a battle with cancer, re-formed the Jan Morcha in 2005 with socialist actor-politician Raj Babbar as its public face [ [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060424/nation.htm The Tribune] ] .

In the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, 2007, the party fielded 118 candidates, but other than Dharmpal Singh, who won from Dayalbagh, defeating Kishan Lal Baghel of the Bahujan Samaj Party by three thousandvotes (1.7%), no other candidate was successful [ [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/candlwc/s24/s24jmacnst.htm#s24 List of Contestants of Jan Morcha] Election Commission website.] .

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