1998 Indian general election

1998 Indian general election

← 1996 16, 22 and 28 February 1998 1999 →

543 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha[a]
272 seats needed for a majority
Registered605,880,192
Turnout61.97% (Increase 4.03pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (crop 2).jpg
Sitaram Kesri Lok Sabha photo.jpg
Surjith-6.JPG
Leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sitaram Kesri Harkishan Singh Surjeet
Party BJP INC CPI(M)
Alliance NDA INC+ LF
Last election 20.29%, 161 seats 28.80%, 140 seats 6.12%, 32 seats
Seats won 182 141 32
Seat change Increase 21 Increase 1 Steady
Popular vote 94,266,188 95,111,131 18,991,867
Percentage 25.59% 25.82% 5.16%
Swing Increase 5.30pp Decrease 2.98pp Decrease 0.96pp

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Inder Kumar Gujral
JD

Prime Minister after election

Atal Bihari Vajpayee
BJP

General elections were held in India on 16, 22 and 28 February 1998 to elect the members of the twelfth Lok Sabha. The elections were held three years ahead of schedule after the government led by Inder Kumar Gujral collapsed when the Indian National Congress (INC) withdrew its support in November 1997.[1]

The result was another hung parliament, with no party or alliance able to muster a majority. However, Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata Party was able to form a coalition government led by the National Democratic Alliance with the outside support of the Telugu Desam Party. He was sworn in as Prime Minister with support from 272 of 543 MPs. However, his government collapsed on 17 April 1999 when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam withdrew its support, after Vajpayee refused to meet the demands of its leader J. Jayalalithaa, namely halting the corruption cases against her and the sacking of the Tamil Nadu government led by her bete-noire M. Karunanidhi.[2] This led to fresh elections in 1999.[3]

The 1998 general election was the second consecutive election in which the party that received the most votes did not win the most seats.


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  1. ^ "Government Falls, Indian Premier Quits; Coalition Splits Amid Gandhi Assassination Debate". The Washington Post. 29 November 1997. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  2. ^ "BJP's one-vote defeat in 1999 was narrowest in history". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 December 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  3. ^ "The 1999 No-Trust Motion That Former PM Vajpayee Lost by One Vote". The Quint. 20 July 2018. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.