New Delhi, Aug. 26: The words “snap poll” may evoke fear and loathing in the hearts of MPs but that has not come in the way of the premature dissolution of the Lok Sabha on numerous occasions. And mostly for reasons a lot flimsier than the current standoff between the United Progressive Alliance and its Left partners over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

In the past 55 years of parliamentary democracy, the Lok Sabha has been dissolved before completing its full term on five occasions — in 1970, 1979, 1991, 1997 and 1999.

Prime Ministers in the coalition era have had it worse. Seven of them — Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, V.P. Singh, Chandra Shekhar, H.D. Deve Gowda, I.K. Gujral and A.B. Vajpayee — had to step down long before they had completed their terms when their colleagues or supporting parties decided to pull the plug.

Indira Gandhi was the first Prime Minister to call for elections 14 months ahead of schedule back in December 1970, but it was her decision and not brought on by recalcitrant colleagues or the parties (the CPM, CPI, DMK and a section of Socialists) supporting her “minority” government following the historic 1969 split in the Congress.

The Left parties fully backed her “socialist initiatives”, such as bank nationalisation and abolition of the privy purses of erstwhile princes.

Despite this support, in August 1970 the constitutional amendment bill abolishing privy purses lost by one vote in the Rajya Sabha. Indira Gandhi then issued a presidential order to push the move.

When the Supreme Court invalidated the order, she chose to dissolve the House on December 27, 1970, and returned with a thumping majority in the general elections held in 1971.

Other Prime Ministers were not so lucky. The Janata government that came to power on an anti-Emergency wave in March 1977 lasted less than three years under two Prime Ministers.

The ego clash between Prime Minister Morarji Desai and deputy Prime Minister Charan Singh had hobbled the government, but it was over an ostensibly “ideological” issue that the Morarji ministry fell in July 1979.

The “socialists” in the Janata Party — who lined up behind Charan Singh — insisted that the erstwhile Jana Sangh contingent give up their memberships of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in order to remain in the government.

The “dual membership” issue ended Morarji’s reign and Charan Singh became Prime Minister with “outside support” provided by the Congress.

A day before Charan Singh was slated to face a confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on August 20, 1979, Indira Gandhi withdrew support, paving the way for fresh elections that saw her return to power.

Rajiv Gandhi managed to complete a full term in office but the second non-Congress government that followed faced the same fate as the first “Opposition” government of 1977-79.

The V.P. Singh-led National Front government received “outside support” from both the BJP and the Left. As in 1977, this government too was hobbled by an ego clash between the Prime Minister and deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.

But the government finally fell when the BJP withdrew support after L.K. Advani — in the midst of his Somnath-to-Ayodhya rathyatra — was arrested at Samastipur on October 23, 1990.

The V.P. Singh government, it can be argued, fell on a substantive ideological issue but the “secularism versus religious nationalism” debate could not be played out in full measure at that time.

Instead, the Congress chose to support — again from the outside — a breakaway Janata Dal faction and make Chandra Shekhar the Prime Minister.

Less than six months later, the Congress got tired of playing the supporting role and made an issue of two Haryana policemen allegedly caught snooping around 10 Janpath. Before the Congress could actually pull the plug, Chandra Shekhar announced his decision to resign on the floor of the Lok Sabha and drove straight to Rashtrapati Bhavan after his dramatic declaration.

That the Congress is not exactly the most reliable source of “outside support” was on display once again during United Front rule in the 1990s. After backing the Deve Gowda government for a few months, Congress president Sitaram Kesri insisted he be replaced if the UF wanted to retain Congress support. Giving in to the ultimatum, the 15-party coalition replaced Deve Gowda with I.K. Gujral in April 1997.

In November, the Congress used the pretext of the interim report of the Jain Commission on the events leading up to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination to call off support.

Since the interim report had mentioned the DMK’s support for the LTTE, Congress leaders demanded the exclusion of the DMK from the front as a condition for continued support. The United Front refused to give in and fresh elections were held in the spring of 1998.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose first government had lasted just 13 days in 1996, managed to survive for 13 months as the head of a disparate coalition till April 1999.

After Jayalalithaa withdrew the ADMK’s support, Vajpayee sought a vote of confidence in the House. With the Bahujan Samaj Party’s last-minute decision to vote with the Congress, the Vajpayee government was defeated by just one vote.

The Congress, a past master in providing and taking away outside support, is facing the heat of coalition politics for the first time today. But it can at least take heart that this time, the threat to the government comes from issues more substantial than snooping constables or personal whimsy.