Factions are the principal structural media through which the political process is modulated in systems of the one-party, variety. V. O. Key described factional groupings as ‘party systems within the dominant party’. He was referring to factional systems in one-party states in the United States. His observation, however, may be applicable to India, which has often been described as a dominant one-party system. In recent years it has become necessary to modify this characterization: as a result of the 1967 general elections, the dominance of the Congress Party was seriously challenged, both in the parliamentary and in the state assembly elections. The 1971 elections, however, seem to have re-established the dominant one-party model. In any event, the present study does not deal with factions in India as a whole but in one of the more important states of India: Maharashtra. This was one of the few states in which the Congress retained its dominance after the Fourth (1967) General Elections, and its political status has not changed appreciably since then. Hence, Key's description of factional groupings is definitely meaningful for Maharashtra.

What I have attempted is an analysis of factionalism, as a specific facet of political behavior manifested in two rival groups within the dominant political party in Maharashtra, the Indian National Congress. The study was conducted at the district level in the period between September 1964 and May 1966.