2004 Indian general election

← 1999 20 April 26 April, 5 and 10 May 2004 2009 →
← outgoing members elected members →
543 of the 545 seats in theLok Sabha[a] 272 seats needed for a majority
Registered	671,487,930
Turnout	58.07% ( 1.92pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sonia Gandhi Atal Bihari Vajpayee Harkishan Singh Surjeet Party INC BJP CPI(M) Last election 28.30%, 114 seats 23.75%, 182 seats 5.40%, 33 seats Seats won 145 138 43 Seat change 31 44 10 Popular vote 103,408,949 86,371,561 22,070,614 Percentage 26.53% 22.16% 5.66% Swing 1.77pp 1.59pp 0.26pp Alliance seats 218 181 60
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Atal Bihari Vajpayee BJP Prime Minister after election Manmohan Singh INC

General elections were held inIndia in four phases between 20 April and 10 May 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the14th Lok Sabha.^[1] Seven states also held assembly elections to electstate governments. They were the first elections fully carried out withelectronic voting machines (EVMs).

On 13 May theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the lead party of theNational Democratic Alliance conceded a shocking mysterious defeat.^[2] TheIndian National Congress, which had governed India for all but five years from independence until 1996, returned to power after a record six years out of office. It was unable to put a majority alone in 2004. It formed UPA, which had together a comfortable majority of more than 335 members out of 543 with the help of its allies. The 335 members included both the Congress-ledUnited Progressive Alliance, the governing coalition formed after the election and external support from theLeft Front, who threatened to withdraw their support during Nuclear Deal.

SpeakerManohar Joshi, who was from the Shiva Sena(NDA), had recommended premature dissolution of the13th Lok Sabha (in accordance with a provision of theConstitution) to pave the way for early elections apparently in view of the recent good showing of the BJP in the Assembly elections in four states.^[3][4] But though this recommendation was not accepted by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Bajpayee, the Speaker dissolved the Lok Sabha.

The election dates for the parliamentary elections were:^[5][6]

• 20 April – 141 constituencies
• 26 April – 137 constituencies
• 5 May – 83 constituencies
• 10 May – 182 constituencies

Counting began simultaneously on 13 May. Over 370 million of the 675 million eligible citizens voted, with election violence claiming 48 lives, less than half the number killed during the 1999 election. The Indian elections were held in phases in order to maintain law and order. A few states considered sensitive areas required deployment of the armed forces. The average enrolment of voters in each constituency was 12 lakhs, although the largest constituency had 31 lakhs.

TheElection Commission of India is responsible for deciding the dates and conducting elections according to constitutional provisions. The Election Commission employed more than a millionelectronic voting machines for these elections.

According toIndia Today, 115.62 billion rupees were expected to have been spent in campaigning for the elections byall political parties combined. Most of the money was spent on the people involved in the election. TheElection Commission limited poll expenses to Rs. 25 lakhs perconstituency. Thus, the actual spending is expected to have been approximately ten times the limit. About 6.5 billion rupees are estimated to have been spent on mobilising 1,50,000 vehicles. About a billion rupees are estimated to have been spent on helicopters and aircraft.

In these elections, compared to all the Lok Sabha elections of the 1990s, the battle was more of a head-to-head contest in the sense that there was no viable third front alternative. Largely the contest was between BJP its allies on one hand and Congress its allies on the other. However, the situation did show large regional differences.

The BJP fought the elections as part of theNational Democratic Alliance (NDA), although some of its seat-sharing agreements were made with strong regional parties of the NDA such asTelugu Desam Party (TDP) inAndhra Pradesh andAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) inTamil Nadu.

Ahead of the elections there were attempts to form a Congress-led national level joint opposition front. In the end, an agreement could not be reached, but on regional level alliances between Congress and regional parties were made in several states. This was the first time that Congress contested with that type of alliances in a parliamentary election.

The left parties, most notably theCPM and theCPI, contested on their own in their strongholdsWest Bengal,Tripura andKerala, confronting both Congress and NDA forces. In several other states, such asPunjab andAndhra Pradesh, they took part in seat sharings with Congress. InTamil Nadu they were part of the DMK-ledDPA (Democratic Progressive Alliance).

Two parties refused to go along with either Congress or BJP, they wereBSP andSamajwadi Party. Both are based inUttar Pradesh, the largest state of India (in terms of population). Congress made several attempts to form alliances with them, but in vain. Many believed that they would prevent Congress of an electoral victory. The result was a four-cornered contest in UP, which didn't really hurt or benefit BJP or Congress significantly.

Most analysts believed the NDA would win the elections. This assessment was also supported by opinion polls. The economy had shown steady growth in the last years and thedisinvestment of government owned production units (a continuation ofIndia's liberalisation policies ) had been on track. The Foreign Exchange Reserves of India stood at more than US$100 billion (7th largest in the world and a record for India). The service sector had also generated a lot of jobs. The Vajpayee government had launched numerous welfare schemes, thus starting the culture of "Yojana"s in Indian governments. The party was supposed to have been riding on a wave of the feel good factor, typified by its promotional campaign "India Shining".^[7]

In the past, BJP has largely been seen as a hardlineHindu right wing party with close ties with the hardline organisations theRSS andVishva Hindu Parishad. Over the years, the party under Vajpayee has slightly distanced itself from hardline policies in order to accommodate a variety of parties within the NDA, likeTMC (a Congress-breakaway party), breakaway factions of theJanata Dal likeINLD,RLD,JD(U) andBJD,Dravidianist parties likeDMK (which left the alliance in December 2003),PMK (which left the alliance in January 2004) andAIADMK (which joined after DMK left) and parties largely representing non-Hindus likeSAD andJKNC (which joined the alliance in 2002), a change that was being questioned after the party's good performance in the2003 assembly elections ofRajasthan,Madhya Pradesh &Chhattisgarh,Karnataka. These elections were marked by the campaign's emphasis on economic gains instead of issues involving religious polarisation.Ban on cow-slaughter, implementation of aUniform Civil Code, construction ofRam-mandir at thesite of Ayodhya, abolition of the provisions ofsecularism in order to makeHinduism the country's state religion etc. characterised BJP's campaign in the1996 election. From the last few elections, BJP had realised that its voter base had reached a ceiling and had concentrated on pre-poll rather than post-poll alliances. The Vajpayee wave and foreign origin ofSonia Gandhi also constituted part of the NDA's campaign.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	103,408,949	26.53	145
	Bharatiya Janata Party	86,371,561	22.16	138
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	22,070,614	5.66	43
	Bahujan Samaj Party	20,765,229	5.33	19
	Samajwadi Party	16,824,072	4.32	36
	Telugu Desam Party	11,844,811	3.04	5
	Rashtriya Janata Dal	9,384,147	2.41	24
	Janata Dal (United)	9,144,963	2.35	8
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	8,547,014	2.19	0
	Trinamool Congress	8,071,867	2.07	2
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	7,064,393	1.81	16
	Shiv Sena	7,056,255	1.81	12
	Nationalist Congress Party	7,023,175	1.80	9
	Janata Dal (Secular)	5,732,296	1.47	3
	Communist Party of India	5,484,111	1.41	10
	Biju Janata Dal	5,082,849	1.30	11
	Shiromani Akali Dal	3,506,681	0.90	8
	Lok Janshakti Party	2,771,427	0.71	4
	Rashtriya Lok Dal	2,463,607	0.63	3
	Telangana Rashtra Samithi	2,441,405	0.63	5
	Pattali Makkal Katchi	2,169,020	0.56	6
	Asom Gana Parishad	2,069,600	0.53	2
	Indian National Lok Dal	1,936,703	0.50	0
	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	1,846,843	0.47	5
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	1,689,794	0.43	3
	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1,679,870	0.43	4
	All India Forward Bloc	1,365,055	0.35	3
	Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation	1,281,688	0.33	0
	Apna Dal	844,053	0.22	0
	Indian Union Muslim League	770,098	0.20	1
	Gondwana Ganatantra Party	720,189	0.18	0
	Naga People's Front	715,366	0.18	1
	Janata Party	517,683	0.13	0
	Haryana Vikas Party	506,122	0.13	0
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	493,067	0.13	2
	Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh	428,566	0.11	0
	All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen	417,248	0.11	1
	Shiromani Akali Dal (Simranjit Singh Mann)	387,682	0.10	0
	Republican Party of India (Athawale)	367,510	0.09	1
	National Loktantrik Party	367,049	0.09	1
	Kerala Congress	353,905	0.09	1
	Kannada Nadu Party	349,183	0.09	0
	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	337,386	0.09	1
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	319,572	0.08	0
	Republican Party of India	295,545	0.08	0
	Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party	275,267	0.07	0
	PDP(in Kashmir)	267,457	0.07	1
	Peoples Republican Party	261,219	0.07	0
	Indian Federal Democratic Party	256,411	0.07	1
	Kerala Congress (M)	209,880	0.05	0
	Rashtriya Samanta Dal	209,694	0.05	0
	Samta Party	201,276	0.05	0
	Lok Bhalai Party	187,787	0.05	0
	Mizo National Front	182,864	0.05	1
	Bharatiya Navshakti Party	171,080	0.04	1
	All Jharkhand Students Union	157,930	0.04	0
	Sikkim Democratic Front	153,409	0.04	1
	Marxist Co-ordination Committee	147,470	0.04	0
	Rashtriya Samaj Paksha	146,571	0.04	0
	Rashtriya Parivartan Dal	139,145	0.04	0
	Jharkhand Disom Party	135,685	0.03	0
	Pyramid Party of India	130,362	0.03	0
	Ekta Shakti	126,924	0.03	0
	Autonomous State Demand Committee	101,808	0.03	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Sena	92,210	0.02	0
	Hindu Mahasabha	88,214	0.02	0
	Federal Party of Manipur	88,179	0.02	0
	Bihar People's Party	86,418	0.02	0
	Party of Democratic Socialism	81,999	0.02	0
	Samata Samaj Party	78,791	0.02	0
	Mahabharat People's Party	77,055	0.02	0
	Arunachal Congress	76,527	0.02	0
	Jharkhand Party	74,364	0.02	0
	Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party	70,078	0.02	0
	Indian Justice Party	67,914	0.02	0
	Jharkhand Party (Naren)	67,782	0.02	0
	United Minorities Front, Assam	64,657	0.02	0
	Labour Party (Secular)	63,989	0.02	0
	Rashtriya Swabhimaan Party	58,296	0.01	0
	Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party	54,746	0.01	0
	Lok Rajya Party	54,097	0.01	0
	Bahujan Kisan Dal	52,669	0.01	0
	Majlis Bachao Tahreek	47,560	0.01	0
	Peoples Democratic Party	45,720	0.01	0
	Uttarakhand Kranti Dal	43,899	0.01	0
	Marxist Communist Party of India (S.S. Srivastava)	38,766	0.01	0
	Amra Bangali	38,107	0.01	0
	Vidharbha Rajya Party	36,974	0.01	0
	Urs Samyuktha Paksha	33,128	0.01	0
	Ambedkarist Republican Party	31,467	0.01	0
	Prabuddha Republican Party	29,792	0.01	0
	Rashtravadi Communist Party	28,757	0.01	0
	Rashtriya Samajik Nayak Paksha	27,594	0.01	0
	Sampurna Vikas Dal	27,135	0.01	0
	Tamil Desiyak Katchi	25,348	0.01	0
	Kosi Vikas Party	25,258	0.01	0
	Chhattisgarhi Samaj Party	24,696	0.01	0
	Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Party	24,176	0.01	0
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party	22,811	0.01	0
	Savarn Samaj Party	21,246	0.01	0
	Ambedkar Samaj Party	20,767	0.01	0
	Indian National League	20,159	0.01	0
	Bharatiya Gaon Taj Dal	19,909	0.01	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal (Ambedkar)	19,548	0.01	0
	Socialist Party (Lohia)	18,628	0.00	0
	Shivrajya Party	18,374	0.00	0
	Samajwadi Jan Parishad	17,717	0.00	0
	Hindustan Janata Party	17,410	0.00	0
	Revolutionary Communist Party of India (Rasik Bhatt)	16,691	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Republican Paksha	16,546	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Vikas Party	15,159	0.00	0
	Trinamool Gana Parishad	14,933	0.00	0
	Manuvadi Party	14,233	0.00	0
	Bharat Kranti Rakshak Party	12,547	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Hamara Dal	12,346	0.00	0
	Parivartan Samaj Party	12,273	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Eklavya Party	12,197	0.00	0
	Proutist Sarva Samaj Party	11,561	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Rashtravadi Paksha	11,459	0.00	0
	Pachim Banga Rajya Muslim League	10,446	0.00	0
	Rajasthan Vikash Party	10,032	0.00	0
	Lokpriya Samaj Party	9,913	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	9,707	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Krantikari Samajwadi Party	9,145	0.00	0
	Vidarbha Janata Congress	9,097	0.00	0
	Shoshit Samaj Dal	8,862	0.00	0
	Jai Hind Party	8,645	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh	8,200	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Desh Bhakt Morcha	7,696	0.00	0
	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	7,584	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Swarn Dal	7,374	0.00	0
	Navabharata Nirman Party	7,169	0.00	0
	Krantikari Samyavadi Party	6,948	0.00	0
	Democratic Bharatiya Samaj Party	6,717	0.00	0
	Youth and Students Party	6,580	0.00	0
	Ephraim Union	6,512	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Lok Tantrik Alp-Sankhyak Jan Morcha	6,003	0.00	0
	United Goans Democratic Party	5,881	0.00	0
	Pichhra Samaj Party	5,672	0.00	0
	All India Momin Conference	5,113	0.00	0
	Labour Party of India (V.V. Prasad)	4,977	0.00	0
	All India Minorities Front	4,874	0.00	0
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	4,790	0.00	0
	Naari Shakti Party	4,649	0.00	0
	Bahujan Vikas Party	4,533	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Ekta Dal	4,312	0.00	0
	Shikshit Berozgar Sena	4,303	0.00	0
	Yuva Gantantra Party	4,140	0.00	0
	Rashtravadi Janata Party	3,737	0.00	0
	Kranti Kari Jai Hind Sena	3,393	0.00	0
	Mudiraj Rashtriya Samithi	3,345	0.00	0
	Sikkim Sangram Parishad	3,216	0.00	0
	Janata Vikas Party	3,173	0.00	0
	National Students Party	3,069	0.00	0
	Secular Party of India	3,041	0.00	0
	Vikas Party	2,998	0.00	0
	Social Action Party	2,987	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Azad Hind Party	2,801	0.00	0
	Loktantrik Chetna Party	2,776	0.00	0
	Sikkim Himali Rajya Parishad	2,765	0.00	0
	Janmangal Paksh	2,684	0.00	0
	Sanatan Samaj Party	2,679	0.00	0
	Lok Sewa Dal	2,646	0.00	0
	Jana Unnayan Mancha	2,592	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Lok Seva Morcha	2,476	0.00	0
	Republican Party of India (Democratic)	2,370	0.00	0
	Bhartiya Lok Kalyan Dal	2,242	0.00	0
	Panchayat Raj Party	2,165	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Backward Party	2,162	0.00	0
	All Kerala M.G.R. Dravida Munnetra Party	2,158	0.00	0
	Akhil Bhartiya Rajarya Sabha	2,080	0.00	0
	Bharat Ki Lok Jimmedar Party	2,055	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Garima Party	2,043	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Garib Dal	1,977	0.00	0
	Ekta Krandi Dal U.P.	1,939	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Labour Party	1,758	0.00	0
	Phule Bharti Lok Party	1,690	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Prajatantrik Shudh Gandhiwadi Krishak Dal	1,689	0.00	0
	Mool Bharati (S) Party	1,675	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Nagrik Party	1,580	0.00	0
	Jammu and Kashmir Awami League	1,519	0.00	0
	Hind Morcha	1,459	0.00	0
	Jharkhand People's Party	1,449	0.00	0
	Maharashtra Rajiv Congress	1,399	0.00	0
	Janhit Samaj Party	1,310	0.00	0
	Vijeta Party	1,304	0.00	0
	Socialistic Democratic Party	1,265	0.00	0
	Jansatta Party	1,189	0.00	0
	Federal Congress of India	1,037	0.00	0
	Nidaya Malik (N) Party	1,030	0.00	0
	Indian Bahujan Samajwadi Party	972	0.00	0
	Desh Bhakt Party	912	0.00	0
	Ambedkar National Congress	825	0.00	0
	NTR Telugu Desam Party (Lakshmi Parvathi)	759	0.00	0
	Akhil Bhartiya Loktantra Party	754	0.00	0
	Jebamani Janata	734	0.00	0
	Niswarth Sewa Party	730	0.00	0
	Jan Chetna Party	671	0.00	0
	Hindu Ekta Andolan Party	620	0.00	0
	Krantikari Manuwadi Morcha	597	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Prajatantra Party	573	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Muhabbat Party (All India)	566	0.00	0
	Manav Jagriti Manch	552	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Janvadi Party	543	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Surajya Manch	515	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Janadhikar Party	487	0.00	0
	Praja Party	485	0.00	0
	Bharti Sarvadarshi Parishad	427	0.00	0
	Shoshit Samaj Party	395	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Sakar Party	379	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Sarvkalyan Krantidal	365	0.00	0
	Awami Party	327	0.00	0
	Swaraj Dal	298	0.00	0
	Akhand Bharti	138	0.00	0
	Parmarth Party	126	0.00	0
	Independents	16,549,900	4.25	5
NominatedAnglo-Indians				2
Total		389,779,784	100.00	545
Valid votes		389,779,784	99.96
Invalid/blank votes		168,546	0.04
Total votes		389,948,330	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		671,487,930	58.07
Source:ECI

Region	Total seats	Indian National Congress		Bharatiya Janata Party		Others
South India	131	48	14	18	1	65	13
West India	78	27	10	28	7	23	3
Hindi-Heartland	225	46	12	78	34	101	22
North-East India	25	11	3	4	2	13	4
East India	63	8	3	7	4	48	1
Union Territories	22	5	5	3		14	5
Total	543	145	+31	138	-44	264	+17
Source: Times of India[11]

Though pre-poll predictions were for an overwhelming majority for the BJP, the exit polls (immediately after the elections and before the counting began) predicted ahung parliament. However, even the exit polls could only indicate the general trend and nowhere close to the final figures. There is also the general perception that as soon as the BJP started realising that events might not proceed entirely in its favour, it changed the focus of its campaign fromIndia Shining to issues of stability. Congress was regarded as old-fashioned by the ruling NDA and many. But Congress declared that it has largely backing of poor, rural, lower-caste and minority voters though all sections of the society had participated in the economic boom of Vajpayee's years. The BJP declared that, PV Narasimha Rao's govt had created a wealthy middle class. But Congress achieved its victory on grounds of coalition politics.

The rout of the ruling parties in the states ofTamil Nadu andKerala in the general elections led to calls for the dissolution of the governments of these states.

The stock market (Bombay Stock Exchange) fell in the week prior to the announcement of the results due to fears of the defeat of NDA government and stoppage of its economic reforms. As soon as counting began, however, it became clear that the Congress coalition was headed for a sizeable lead over the NDA and the market surged, only to crash the following day when the left parties, whose support would be required for government formation, announced that it was their intention to do away with the disinvestment ministry. Following this,Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister (in office 2004–14) and the prime architect of the economic liberalisation of the early 1990s, hurried to reassure investors that the new government would strive to create a business-friendly climate. Later in his Book, Turning Points Former presidentAbdul Kalam said that he has no objection against sonia's candidancy and he said to ready the documents with Sonia as Prime Minister.^[12]

• 13 May - Congress wins a minority of seats in the Lok Sabha (142) and forms UPA which has plurality of seats (219 seats against 188 for the BJP). This event shocks many.
• 13 May - Counting of votes in the parliamentary elections begins.
• 11 May - Congress wins the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh by 2/3 majority.
• 10 May - The fourth and final phase of elections comes to an end. Results will come out for 542 of the 543 parliament seats with elections to be held again inChhapra.
• 5 May - Third phase of polling comes to an end with the ruling coalition government gaining seats according to exit polls but still off the victory target. Reports ofbooth capturing in Chhapra, capture headlines.
• 26 April - Second phase of elections sees 55-60% polling. This is the final phase for assembly elections. Polling covers 136 parliamentary constituencies in 11 states. The share market starts to crash as the investors suspected that the NDA government might find it hard to come back to power—raising doubts about the continuation of economic reforms initiated by the NDA government.
• 22 April -Tripura, where polling was delayed because of a local holiday, votes for its two MPs. A turnout of close to 60% is reported, despite calls for abstention made by separatists.
• 20 April - The first phase of the vote is held, with average turnouts of between 50% and 55%. Voting is reported as brisk, and the day unfolds relatively smoothly, albeit with some glitches reported with the electronic voting machines. Isolated violent incidents take place inKashmir,Jammu,Manipur, andJharkhand.
• 8 April - The NDA's top leaders meet inNew Delhi to adopt itsmanifesto for the elections, Agenda for Development and Good Governance.
• 7 April - Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Bajpayee files nomination as the candidate from his seatLucknow.
• 6 April - The BJP and theAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) tell the Election Commission that they will continue to raise the issue of the foreign origin of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
• 4 April - AnFIR is lodged againstexternal affairsministerYashwant Sinha for alleged violation of electioncode of conduct during a poll meeting inRanchi. Besides Sinha, FIRs were lodged against three other BJP leaders who participated in the meeting. All were acquitted.

• List of members of the 14th Lok Sabha
• 2004 elections in India
• Election Commission of IndiaCategory:2004 Indian general election by state or union territory

• Shastri, Sandeep, K.C. Suri & Yogendra Yadav (2009) (ed.).Electoral Politics in Indian States : Lok Sabha Elections in 2004 and Beyond, New Delhi : Oxford University Press,ISBN 0-19-806329-6

• Election Commission of India
• Parliament of India
• Interactive map at rediff.com
• Report from Mumbai, Gujarat during 2004 election

• 2004 Indian general election
• 2004 elections in India
• 2004 elections in Asia
• General elections in India

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