The terra “Congress System’ was coined by :

The term 'Congress System' was coined by the eminent Indian political scientist Rajni Kothari [2]. In his seminal work, particularly in his 1964 article 'The Congress System in India' and his 1970 book 'Politics in India', Kothari theorized the Indian party system as a 'one-party dominance system' [1]. He described this system as a unique political arrangement where the Congress Party maintained electoral hegemony while functioning as a 'party of consensus' [2]. This system allowed for internal competition through an elaborate network of factions, which acted as a balancing mechanism and performed the roles of both the ruling party and the opposition [2]. Kothari's analysis highlighted how the Congress absorbed diverse interests and social groups, effectively rendering external opposition parties as 'parties of pressure' that operated on the margins of the dominant system.

Sources

1. [1] Indian Polity, M. Laxmikanth(7th ed.) > Chapter 78: Political Parties > One-Dominant Party System > p. 566
2. [2] Politics in India since Independence, Textbook in political science for Class XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Era of One-party Dominance > Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) > p. 40