In the years preceding the fourth general elections, the nation observed significant transformations. Two Prime Ministers had passed away in rapid sequence, and the fresh Prime Minister, who was perceived as a political neophyte, had held office for fewer than twelve months. The era was marked by a severe economic turmoil caused by consecutive monsoon failures, extensive drought, reduced agricultural output, acute food scarcity, draining of foreign currency reserves, decline in industrial output and exports, along with a substantial increase in defense spending and the redirection of resources from planning and economic growth.

Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?
a) In the fourth general elections, parties with the same programmes and ideology got together to share seats and contest elections against Congress.
b) The coming together of Non-Congress parties was called Non-Congressism, a term coined by Ram Manohar Lohia.

Only statement b is correct.

In the fourth general elections, parties opposed to the Congress realised that the division of their votes kept the Congress in power. Thus parties that were entirely different and disparate in their programmes and ideology got together to form anti-Congress fronts in some states and entered into electoral adjustments of sharing seats in others.