General election in India 1998
The 1998 parliamentary elections in India took place on February 16, 22, 23 and 28, and on March 7, 1998. It was an early parliamentary election, as the legislative period of the Lok Sabha elected in 1996 would have lasted until 2001. The election ended with a victory for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which after the election formed a multi-party coalition government under their leadership.
prehistory
The Gowda government
The previous parliamentary elections in 1996 had not given any party an absolute majority. The Congress Party under Prime Minister Rao , which had ruled since 1991, had suffered heavy losses and was no longer able to bring together a majority in parliament for a new Congress-Party-led government. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had risen to become the strongest faction in the Lok Sabha when it was elected, but held just under 30% of the parliamentary seats. President Shankar Dayal Sharma then appointed the leader of the BJP, Atal Bihari Vajpayee , as prime minister and gave him two weeks to secure a parliamentary majority for the government through negotiations with the other parties represented in the Lok Sabha. Vajpayee did not succeed in this. Most Indian parties saw the BJP too deeply involved in the violence between Hindus and Muslims, which had continued to increase since the late 1980s, and therefore refused to cooperate. Vajpayee therefore resigned from this post after only 13 days in office as Prime Minister in order to forestall his removal by a vote of no confidence. A coalition government was then formed under Deve Gowda of Janata Dal (JD). The Janata Dal itself only had 8.5% of the parliamentary seats, but had managed to form a multi-party alliance, the United Front , which consisted of around a dozen regional parties, which together with the JD occupied almost a third of the parliamentary seats. The parliamentary support of the new government was therefore very weak from the start. The Congress party agreed to give parliamentary support to the JD-led government under Gowda under certain conditions, mainly because it wanted to prevent the BJP from participating in government.
The new Prime Minister Gowda was a regional politician and came from a simple farming background. He was a member of a lower caste , spoke only imperfect English and no Hindi at all , only his native South Indian language, Kannada . This fact also contributed to the fact that the Janata Dal in northern India continued to lose ground. Despite the fragile majority, his coalition government of the United Front had ambitious goals. This included the decentralization of India in the sense of a stronger federalism, so that more powers should be transferred to the states. The economic liberalization of India, which began under his predecessor Rao, should be driven forward and the country's attractiveness for foreign investors increased. To this end, Gowda appointed P. Chidambaram ( DMK ) to the cabinet. Indeed, foreign investment rose and economic growth in 1996/97 was a respectable 7%. Immediately after taking office, Gowda held elections for the regional parliaments of Jammu and Kashmir , which were also orderly and from which Farooq Abdullah ( JKNC ) emerged victorious. The president's rule over the state, which had existed for 6 years, could finally be repealed.
In April 1997, after the Gowda government had been in office for just 10 months, the party president of the Congress Party, Sitaram Kesri , declared that Gowda was no longer sustainable as Prime Minister for the Congress Party. Most likely personal motives played a role. Kesri led himself to be ignored and not taken seriously enough by Gowda, who was also happy to consult other congressional politicians. From Kesri's point of view, Gowda had seen no reason to slow down the investigations of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against leading Congress politicians , including Kesri (other critics of Gowda came to the opposite assessment). In addition, Kesri was angry that the United Front had refused to support the alliance of the Congress Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party against the Samajwadi Party in the election in Uttar Pradesh . On April 14, 1997, there was a vote of confidence in Lok Sabha, which Prime Minister Gowda lost. Gowda then offered to resign. The Congress party demanded the change of prime minister, but wanted to avoid new elections, in which renewed profits of the BJP were feared. On April 19, 1997 they agreed on the 77-year-old Indian Kumar Gujral (Janata Dal) as the new Prime Minister.
The Gujral government
Prime Minister Gujral, who took office on April 21, 1997, had earned a good reputation as Foreign Minister in the Gowda Cabinet, particularly with regard to his policy of détente with Pakistan . Gujral took over all the ministers from his predecessor's cabinet. Gujral made the fight against corruption a key objective of his government. Here, however, he was faced with great difficulties, as one of the leading politicians of his own party, the Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav , was at the center of an extensive corruption scandal (the so-called fodder scam ). After the CBI brought charges against Yadav, Yadav left the Janata Dal with numerous supporters and founded his own party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal .
In November 1997 the Jain Commission , which investigated the circumstances surrounding the murder of Rajiv Gandhi by a Tamil assassin in 1991, published its report. In the report, which was initially kept under lock and key , but some parts were made public, there was clear criticism of the DMK- led government that was in office in Tamil Nadu in 1991 . The DMK was indirectly accused of supporting the Tamil extremists. The report led to tensions between DMK and Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), both of which were members of the United Front , and to tensions between the Gujral government and a congressional party faction under Sonia Gandhi , the widow of Rajiv Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi and her supporters demanded the DMK ministers be dismissed from the government. Gujral did not want or could not agree to it, as the other member parties of the United Front had threatened to leave the government in this case and submitted his resignation on November 28th. On December 4, 1997, President K. R. Narayanan announced the dissolution of Lok Sabha and the holding of new elections in February next year. At Narayanan's request, Gujral and his cabinet remained in office until the new election of Lok Sabha.
Election campaign
In the run-up to the election, several electoral alliances were formed. In Tamil Nadu, the BJP made electoral agreements with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIDMK), the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MMDK) and the Janata Party (JNP) This alliance was an alliance of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu , Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) and Communist Party of India (CPI) opposite. In Bihar there was an electoral agreement between the BJP and the Samata Party . This was countered by an alliance of the Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Samajwadi Janata Party . The Bahujan Samaj Party was added as a third separate force. In Maharashtra, an alliance between the Congress Party and the Republican Party of India (RPI) competed against an alliance between the BJP and Shiv Sena .
On December 15, 1997, the Janata Dal regional association in Orissa split. The split-off faction, led by Naveen Patnaik , formed a new party, Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which formed an electoral alliance with the BJP in Orissa. A joint election manifesto of the parties of the Janata Dal-led United Front did not come about due to great differences of opinion. The Janata Dal eventually put up candidates in 150 constituencies across the country.
The BJP put up its own candidates in 375 constituencies, the allies of the BJP ran in around 160 constituencies.
In its election manifesto, the congress party referred to its many years of expertise and warned of unstable coalition governments. It formulated the goal of expanding the infrastructure and further economic development. Leading congressional leaders and potential candidates for prime ministerial positions were ex-finance ministers Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. The BJP invoked the Hindu concept of Sanatana Dharma as a symbol of Indian nationalism. She emphasized her respect for all indigenous religions in India, but on the other hand also represented the slogan One Nation, One People and One Culture . The BJP program raised the personal integrity of the top candidate Atal Bihari Vajpayee and called for the rebuilding of the Ram Janmabhumi Temple in Ayodhya . It formulated the goal that five new federal states should be formed ( Uttaranchal by separating from Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh by separating from Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha by separating from Maharashtra, Vananchal by separating from Bihar, Delhi was to be raised from a union territory to a full federal state ). The constituency boundaries should be redrawn by the Delimitation Commission of India . The program also placed particular emphasis on economic development, calling for further liberalization and criticizing the earlier “socialist” economic policies of the Congress Party in the first decades after independence.
Election mode and electoral process
Like all previous elections, the election was held in 543 individual constituencies using simple majority voting ( first-pass-the-post ). The constituency boundaries were set by the Delimitation Commission of India in 1975 and have remained unchanged since then, despite the clearly different regional population trends. This led to significant imbalances. For example, in Union Territory of Delhi, the Chandni Chowk constituency had approximately 360,000 voters while the constituencies of Outer Delhi and East Delhi had 2.82 and 2.22 million voters, respectively. In Maharashtra, the average number of voters per constituency was 1.15 million. The constituencies Thane (2.83 million), Bombay North (2.2 million) and Bombay North-East (1.95 million) were significantly higher, while on the other 12 constituencies in Maharashtra had fewer than 800,000 voters. The situation was similar in several other states.
On January 7, 1998, the Indian Electoral Commission announced the voting schedule. The election dates in Nagaland and Mizoram were later moved from the originally scheduled January 22 to January 23, 1998 in order to avoid that the election in these states with predominantly Christian populations took place on a Sunday. The elections in the larger states were split over two different days. There were even 3 different election days for the 6 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir.
The election ran according to the following schedule:
- February 16: Elections in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Manipur, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Delhi; also in 21 constituencies of Andhra Pradesh, in 18 constituencies of Karnataka, in 20 constituencies of Madhya Pradesh, in 14 constituencies of Tamil Nadu, in 52 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, in 34 constituencies of Bihar, 1 constituency in Jammu and Kashmir
- February 22: Pondicherry; in 21 constituencies of Andhra Pradesh, in 10 constituencies of Karnataka, in 20 constituencies of Madhya Pradesh, in 24 constituencies of Maharashtra, in 10 constituencies of Orissa, in 25 constituencies of Tamil Nadu, in 33 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, in 20 constituencies of West Bengal, in 20 constituencies of Bihar
- February 23: Elections in Mizoram and Nagaland
- February 28: Elections in Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Daman and Diu; in 24 constituencies of Maharashtra, in 11 constituencies of Orissa, in 22 constituencies of West Bengal, 2 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir
- March 7th: in 3 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir
The counting of votes began on March 2nd, 1998, although on March 7th there were still three electoral districts in Jammu and Kashmir. The first results were announced on March 3, 1998.
The choice caused about 46 billion rupees in costs (then about 1.16 billion US $).
| State or Union Territory |
electoral legitimate |
Voters | electoral participation |
Invalid votes |
Number of polling stations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 49.133.135 | 32,425,649 | 66.00% | 1.61% | 60,746 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 565,621 | 334.705 | 59.17% | 1.74% | 1,734 |
| Assam | 14.277.806 | 8,717,775 | 61.06% | 3.91% | 17,598 |
| Bihar | 58,766,580 | 37,963,068 | 64.60% | 1.52% | 83.153 |
| Goa | 880.746 | 538.664 | 61.16% | 1.09% | 1,135 |
| Gujarat | 28.770.306 | 17,062,837 | 59.31% | 4.45% | 34,996 |
| Haryana | 11,086,895 | 7,649,088 | 68.99% | 1.24% | 15,449 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 3,628,864 | 2,407,613 | 66.35% | 1.08% | 6.230 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 5,022,782 | 2,220,371 | 44.21% | 2.74% | 6,512 |
| Karnataka | 33,098,338 | 21,488,648 | 64.92% | 1.73% | 44.122 |
| Kerala | 21,188,712 | 14,972,844 | 70.66% | 0.73% | 23.305 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 44,607,368 | 27,541,607 | 61.74% | 2.20% | 55,761 |
| Maharashtra | 56.205.250 | 32.096.449 | 57.11% | 1.87% | 74,058 |
| Manipur | 1.330.209 | 755.960 | 56.83% | 0.81% | 1,998 |
| Meghalaya | 1,157,494 | 860.890 | 74.38% | 2.53% | 1,569 |
| Mizoram | 442.457 | 307,767 | 69.56% | 0.71% | 788 |
| Nagaland | 926,569 | 420.714 | 45.41% | 5.63% | 1,573 |
| Orissa | 23,393,600 | 13,574,771 | 58.03% | 1.67% | 29,990 |
| Punjab | 15,344,540 | 9,217,254 | 60.07% | 1.08% | 18,244 |
| Rajasthan | 29,751,400 | 17,927,159 | 60.26% | 1.53% | 40.132 |
| Sikkim | 236.494 | 158,787 | 67.14% | 1.84% | 335 |
| Tamil Nadu | 45,577,788 | 26.410.702 | 57.95% | 3.03% | 54,812 |
| Tripura | 1,727,463 | 1,396,760 | 80.86% | 1.88% | 2,367 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 101,982,480 | 56,593,465 | 55.49% | 1.34% | 123.484 |
| West Bengal | 46,846,524 | 37.134.095 | 79.27% | 1.62% | 61,438 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 232.013 | 147,698 | 63.66% | 1.25% | 358 |
| Chandigarh | 531.146 | 285.149 | 53.69% | 0.81% | 615 |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 95,832 | 74.205 | 77.43% | 2.23% | 123 |
| Daman and Diu | 71,934 | 52,389 | 72.83% | 1.51% | 82 |
| Delhi | 8,297,622 | 4,255,606 | 51.29% | 0.88% | 9.132 |
| Lakshadweep | 36,738 | 31,264 | 85.10% | 0.63% | 43 |
| Pondicherry | 665.486 | 417.786 | 62.78% | 2.12% | 799 |
| total | 605.880.192 | 375.441.739 | 61.97% | 1.86% | 772.681 |
Results
1. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Bharatiya Janata Party All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (in Tamil Nadu ) Samata Party (in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh ) Shiv Sena (in Maharashtra ) Biju Janata Dal (in Orissa ) West Bengal Trinamool Congress (in West Bengal ) Shiromani Akali Dal (in Punjab ) Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (in Jammu and Kashmir ) Haryana Lok Dal (in Haryana ) Pattali Makkal Katchi (in Tamil Nadu ) Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (in Tamil Nadu ) Supporting the NDA coalition: Telugu Desam Party (in Andhra Pradesh ) 2nd Congress Party and Allied Indian National Congress Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (in Tamil Nadu ) Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar 3. Other Janata Dal Samajwadi Party (in Uttar Pradesh ) Bahujan Samaj Party (in Uttar Pradesh ) Tamil Maanila Congress (in Tamil Nadu ) All India Indira Congress (Secular) (in Rajasthan ) 4. Communists and Left Socialists Communist Party of India (Marxist) Communist Party of India (in Punjab and West Bengal ) Revolutionary Socialist Party (in West Bengal ) Peasants and Workers Party of India ( Maharashtra ) 5 Independent candidates or regional parties with only one or two mandates Others (among these there are also some who support the above Belong to coalitions)
Overall result
The result of the election was above all a success for the BJP. Since it was founded in 1980, the BJP had steadily gained votes and parliamentary seats in every election. In the current election, it achieved 25.59% of the vote and was thus only slightly behind the first-placed Congress party. In terms of the electoral districts and parliamentary seats it won, it was able to outstrip the Congress party by a significant margin and won 182 of the 543 seats (33.5%). Thus, as in the previous election, it formed the strongest faction in the Lok Sabha. She had won mandates in almost every state. The Congress Party, on the other hand, lost again in votes (−2.98%) and got about the same number of seats as in the last election (141 instead of 140 previously). It was the worst result in terms of percentage of votes that she had ever achieved in an all-India election.
The poor performance of the Congress party was partly due to the previous splits. In the previous years, some local party organizations in various states had become independent and separated from the parent party, in 1996 under the name Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) in Tamil Nadu, also in 1996 the Arunachal Congress in Arunachal Pradesh , and in 1997 in West Bengal under the leadership by Mamata Banerjee of the West Bengal Trinamool Congress (WBTC). TMC won 5.2 million votes and 3 seats in the current election, WBTC 8.9 million votes and 7 seats.
The Janata Dal was also weakened by multiple splits. In 1994 the Samata Party (SAP) split off, in 1997 the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar and the Lok Shakti in Karnataka and shortly before the election the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Orissa. The Janata Dal itself, from whose ranks three prime ministers had come in the last 8 years, only got 3.24% of the votes and 6 seats (1.1%) and was thus reduced to a small splinter party. In contrast, their “daughter parties ”, the Janata parivar parties, performed better. Despite all the scandals, the controversial Lalu Prasad Yadav won 17 constituencies with his RJD in Bihar, the BJD won 9 of the 21 constituencies of Orissa and the SAP won a total of 12 seats.
The communists and left-wing socialists maintained their strongholds West Bengal and Tripura and their share of votes and mandates of around 10% nationwide.
| Political party | Abbreviation | be right | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | % | +/- | number | +/- | % | ||
| Indian National Congress | INC | 95.111.131 | 25.82% | 2.98% | 141 | 1 | 25.8% |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | BJP | 94.266.188 | 25.59% | 5.30% | 182 | 21 | 33.5% |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | CPM | 18,991,867 | 5.16% | 0.96% | 32 | 5.9% | |
| Samajwadi party | SP | 18.167.640 | 4.93% | 1.65% | 20th | 3 | 3.7% |
| Bahujan Samaj Party | E.G | 17.186.779 | 4.67% | 0.65% | 5 | 6 | 0.9% |
| Janata Dal | JD | 11.930.209 | 3.24% | 4.84% | 6th | 40 | 1.1% |
| Rashtriya Janata Dal | RJD | 10,229,971 | 2.78% | (New) | 17th | (New) | 3.1% |
| Telugu Desam Party | TDP | 10.199.463 | 2.77% | 12 | 4 | 2.9% | |
| West Bengal Trinamool Congress | WBTC | 8,920,583 | 2.42% | (New) | 7th | (New) | 1.3% |
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | AIADMK | 6,731,550 | 1.83% | 1.19% | 18th | 18 | 3.3% |
| Shiv Sena | SHS | 6,528,566 | 1.77% | 0.28% | 6th | 9 | 1.1% |
| Samata party | SAP | 6,491,639 | 1.76% | 0.41% | 12 | 4 | 2.2% |
| Communist Party of India | CPI | 6,429,569 | 1.75% | 0.22% | 9 | 3 | 1.7% |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | DMK | 5,308,388 | 1.44% | 0.70% | 6th | 11 | 1.1% |
| Tamil Maanila Congress | TMC | 5,169,183 | 1.40% | 0.79% | 3 | 17 | 0.6% |
| Biju Janata Dal | BJD | 3,669,825 | 1.00% | (New) | 9 | (New) | 1.7% |
| Shiromani Akali Dal | SAD | 3,001,769 | 0.81% | 0.04% | 8th | 0.8% | |
| Lok Shakti | LS | 2,548,725 | 0.69% | (New) | 3 | (New) | 0.6% |
| All India Rashtriya Janata Party | AIRJP | 2,071,643 | 0.56% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
| Revolutionary Socialist Party | RSP | 2,032,585 | 0.55% | 0.08% | 5 | 0.9% | |
| Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya) | HLD | 1,956,087 | 0.53% | (New) | 4th | (New) | 0.8% |
| Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | MDMK | 1,602,504 | 0.44% | 0.07% | 3 | 3 | 0.6% |
| Pattali Makkal Katchi | PMK | 1,548,976 | 0.42% | 0.25% | 4th | 4 | 0.8% |
| Republican Party of India | RPI | 1,351,019 | 0.37% | 0.06% | 4th | 4 | 0.7% |
| Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | JMM | 1,324,548 | 0.36% | 0.02% | 0 | 1 | 0.0% |
| All India Forward Bloc | AIFB | 1,213,965 | 0.33% | 0.05% | 2 | 1 | 0.4% |
| Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | SJP (R) | 1,181,083 | 0.32% | 0.32% | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Asom Gana Parishad | AGP | 1,064,977 | 0.29% | 0.47% | 0 | 5 | 0.0% |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation | CPI (ML) L | 912,698 | 0.25% | 0.01% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| Haryana Vika's party | HVP | 875,803 | 0.24% | 0.11% | 1 | 2 | 0.2% |
| Muslim League | MUL | 800.765 | 0.22% | 0.01% | 2 | 0.4% | |
| Jammu & Kashmir National Conference | JKNC | 784.669 | 0.21% | 0.21% | 3 | 3 | 0.6% |
| Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party | BKKP | 711.080 | 0.19% | (New) | 0 | (New) | 0.0% |
| Apna Dal | AD | 562,946 | 0.15% | 0.08% | 0 | 0.0% | |
| All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslims | AIMIM | 485.785 | 0.13% | 0.01% | 1 | 0.2% | |
| All India Indira Congress (Secular) | AIIC (S) | 457.510 | 0.12% | 1.34% | 1 | 3 | 0.2% |
| Janata party | JNP | 444.305 | 0.12% | 0.07% | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| United Minorities Front Assam | UMFA | 357,759 | 0.10% | 0.03% | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Kerala Congress (M) | KEC (M) | 356.168 | 0.10% | 0.01% | 1 | 0.2% | |
| Peasants and Workers Party of India | PWP | 269,609 | 0.07% | 0.06% | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Manipur State Congress Party | MSCP | 190.358 | 0.05% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
| Autonomous State Demand Committee | ASDC | 184.241 | 0.05% | 1 | 0.2% | ||
| Arunachal Congress | AC | 172.496 | 0.05% | (New) | 2 | (New) | 0.4% |
| Sikkim Democratic Front | SDF | 102,440 | 0.03% | 0.01% | 1 | 0.2% | |
| All other parties | 5,757,684 | 1.56% | 0.31% | 0 | 4 | 0.0% | |
| Independent | Independent | 8,719,952 | 2.37% | 3.91% | 6th | 3 | 1.1% |
| Valid votes | 368.376.700 | 100.0% | 543 | 100.0% | |||
| Registered voters / turnout | 605.880.192 | 61.97% | |||||
| Source: Election Commission of India | |||||||
- ↑ a b RJD was founded in 1998 as a spin-off from Janata Dal in 1998.
- ↑ a b WBTC was founded in 1997 as a split from the Congress Party in West Bengal.
- ↑ a b BJD was founded in 1998 as a spin-off of Janata Dal in Orissa.
- ↑ a b Lok Shakti was founded in 1997 by dissidents of the Janata Dal in Karnataka.
- ↑ a b AIRJP was founded in 1996 as a spin-off from BJP in Gujarat.
- ↑ a b HLD was founded in 1998.
- ↑ a b BKKP was founded in September 1996. In September 1998 the party became part of the Rashtriya Lok Dal .
- ↑ a b All India Indira Congress (Secular) (AIIC (S)) was created after 1996 when the All India Indira Congress (Secular) (AIIC (T)) was renamed. Here are the results of the two compared.
- ↑ a b AF Golam Osmani, elected under the UMFA party flag in the constituency 6-Barpeta in Assam, joined the congress party shortly before the election.
- ↑ a b MSCP was founded in 1997.
- ↑ a b The Arunachal Congress split off from the Congress Party in 1996.
Result by state and union territories
The following table lists the electoral districts won by state / union territory.
After the election
Although the BJP emerged from the election as the strongest parliamentary group, it was far from having an absolute majority and reliant on coalition partners. On March 10, 1998, President Narayanan asked the leader of the BJP parliamentary group, Vajpayee, to obtain written pledges from other parties and MPs that they would support him as prime minister of a new government. On March 12, Vajpayee had the support of 240 parliamentarians. The negotiations with the AIADMK, which was led by J. Jayalalithaa , proved particularly difficult for the BJP . After intensive talks with all major parties, moderated by President Narayanan, J. Jayalalithaa agreed on March 14, 1998 to support a BJP-led government under Vajpayee.
On March 19, 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister with his government , with the stipulation that a vote of confidence in parliament over his government was carried out within 10 days. In the vote on March 28, 1998, the Vajpayee government received 274 votes to 261, with 2 abstentions. The Telugu Desam Party , which had initially announced its intention to abstain, also voted for the government. The members of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference , which were divided in their stance towards the BJP and whose electorate was not particularly popular with the BJP, abstained.
There were also personnel changes in the Congress Party as a result of the election defeat. Party President Kesri announced his resignation on March 9, 2014. On March 16, 1998, Sonia Gandhi was elected President of the Congress Party. Since she did not hold a seat in parliament, Sharad Pawar became leader of the Congress Party faction in the Lok Sabha.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on December 22, 2018 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence).
- ^ A b c d Ranbir Vohra: The Making of India, A Political History . Chapter 10: The Rise of the BJP as a National Party 1996-2004, Toward a new Polity. 3. Edition. MESharpe, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7656-2367-6 .
- ^ John F. Burns: India Coalition Picks a Premier To End Crisis. The New York Times, April 20, 1997, accessed December 20, 2014 .
- ↑ George Iype: Why Sitaram Kesri despises HD Deve Gowda. rediff.com, 1997, accessed December 20, 2014 .
- ↑ India's Congress Party disavows Bid for Power. The New York Times, April 13, 1997, accessed December 20, 2014 .
- ↑ Usha Ramanathan: Why Gowda Went Out, and Gujral Came In As The Prime Minister? Tamil Tribune, September 1997, accessed December 20, 2014 .
- ↑ George Iype: Jain Commission report may upset UF applecart. rediff.com, 1997, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ Tara Shankar Sahay: Militant Congress MPs may seal Gujral's fate. rediff.com, November 17, 1997, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ Tara Shankar Sahay: UF parties warn Gujral against dumping DMK. rediff.com, November 15, 1997, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ 'The people of India need a reprieve from political instability'. rediff.com, December 4, 1997, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ N. Sathiya Moorthy: BJP ties up with AIADMK. rediff.com, December 17, 1997, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Miffed JD walks out of UF in Tamil Nadu, urges Gujral not to canvass for front. rediff.com, January 27, 1999, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ BJP, Samata Party sign electoral pact in Bihar. rediff.com, January 1, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Shaji Joseph: BJP's opponents divided in Bihar. rediff.com, February 6, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ Syed Firdaus Ashraf: Congress, SP, RPI come together in Bombay to take on BJP-Sena. rediff.com, January 30, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Biju's son splits JD in Orissa. rediff.com, December 15, 1997, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ CPI-M rules out joint UF manifesto. rediff.com, December 24, 1997, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ JD will field 150 candidates. rediff.com, January 11, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ BJP will field 375 candidates. rediff.com, January 21, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ Manifestos. rediff.com, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 (English, election programs of the major parties).
- ↑ Previous Manifestos: BJP Manifesto 1998. Bharatiya Janata Party, accessed on December 21, 2014 (English).
- ↑ Delimitation freeze distorts constituencies sizes. rediff.com, February 5, 1998, accessed December 17, 2014 .
- ^ Constituency-wise poll schedule announced. rediff.com, January 7, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ↑ a b Counting of votes to begin on March 2. rediff.com, January 20, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ N Bhaskara Rao: The Rediff Election Special: LS poll will cost Rs 46 billion. rediff.com, January 31, 1998, accessed December 18, 2014 .
- ^ Hegde Launches National Party Lok Shakti. Business Standard, February 17, 1997, accessed December 21, 2014 .
- ↑ a b How the BJP finally made it. rediff.com, March 15, 1998, accessed December 22, 2014 .
- ↑ Vajpayee to be sworn in on Thursday, has to prove majority in ten days. rediff.com, March 15, 1998, accessed December 22, 2014 .
- ^ TDP voted for BJP, fearing tie in House. rediff.com, March 28, 1998, accessed December 22, 2014 .
- ↑ George IYPE: Vajpayee wins vote, 274-261. rediff.com, March 28, 1998, accessed December 22, 2014 .
- ^ Tara Shankar Sahay: Sonia elected CPP chairperson. rediff.com, March 15, 1998, accessed December 22, 2014 .
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