2004 Indian general election

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 the Lok 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) Alliance INC+ NDA LF 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 in India in four phases between 20 April and 10 May 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha.^[1] Seven states also held assembly elections to elect state governments. They were the first elections fully carried out with electronic voting machines.

On 13 May the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the lead party of the National Democratic Alliance conceded defeat.^[2] The Indian National Congress, which had governed India for all but five years from independence until 1996, returned to power after a record eight years out of office. It was able to put 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-led United Progressive Alliance, the governing coalition formed after the election, external support from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Kerala Congress (KC) and the Left Front.

After facing criticism from her own party and from the country, Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked the 22nd Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, an economist, to head the new government. Singh had previously served in the Congress government of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao in the early 1990s, when he was seen as one of the architects of India's first economic liberalisation plan, which staved off an impending monetary crisis. Despite the fact that Singh had never won a Lok Sabha seat, his considerable goodwill and Sonia Gandhi's nomination won him the support of the UPA allies and the Left Front. Manmohan Singh became the first Sikh and non-Hindu prime minister of India.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had recommended premature dissolution of the 13th Lok Sabha (in accordance with a provision of the Constitution) 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]

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 1.2 million, although the largest constituency had 3.1 million.

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

According to India Today, 115.62 billion rupees were expected to have been spent in campaigning for the elections by all political parties combined. Most of the money was spent on the people involved in the election. The Election Commission limited poll expenses to Rs. 2.5 million per constituency. 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 150,000 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 and its allies on one hand and Congress and its allies on the other. The situation did, however, show large regional differences.

The BJP fought the elections as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), although some of its seat-sharing agreements were made with strong regional parties outside of the NDA such as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil 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 the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India, contested on their own in their strongholds West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala, confronting both Congress and NDA forces. In several other states, such as Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, they took part in seat sharings with Congress. In Tamil Nadu they were part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Democratic Progressive Alliance.

Two parties refused to go along with either Congress or BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party. Both are based in Uttar 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 become the 'spoilers' that would rob Congress of an electoral victory. The result was a four-cornered contest in UP, which didn't really hurt or benefit Congress or BJP 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 few months and the disinvestment of government owned production units (a continuation of India's liberalisation policies initiated in the early 1990s) 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 party was supposed to have been riding on a wave of the so-called "feel good factor", typified by its promotional campaign "India Shining".^[7]

In the past, BJP has largely been seen as a hardline Hindu right wing party with close ties with the hardline organisations the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh & Vishwa 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, like Trinamool Congress (a Congress-breakaway party), breakaway factions of the Janata Dal like JD(U) & BJD, Dravidianist parties like AIADMK and parties largely representing non-Hindus like SAD, a change that was being questioned after the party's poor showing in the assembly elections. These elections were marked by the campaign's emphasis on economic gains. 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 foreign origin of Sonia 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
	All India 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
	Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party	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 Sawarn Dal	7,374	0.00	0
	Navbharat 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
Nominated Anglo-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 a hung 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 from India Shining to issues of stability. The Congress, who was regarded as "old-fashioned" by the ruling BJP, was largely backed by poor, rural, lower-caste and minority voters that did not participate in the economic boom of previous years that created a wealthy middle class and thus achieved its overwhelming victory on grounds of wealth inequality.

The rout of the ruling parties in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala 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 an unstable coalition. 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.

• 13 May - The Congress and allies win a plurality of seats in the Lok Sabha (219 seats against 188 for the BJP).
• 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 in Chhapra.
• 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 of booth 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 it becomes evident that the NDA government may 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 separatist militants.
• 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 in Kashmir, Jammu, Manipur, and Jharkhand.
• 8 April - The NDA's top leaders meet in New Delhi to adopt its manifesto for the elections, "Agenda for Development and Good Governance".
• 7 April - Ram Jethmalani says he will contest the elections against Prime Minister Vajpayee as an independent candidate from Lucknow. He claims he will be supported by the Congress and some other parties.
• 6 April - The BJP and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) tell the Election Commission that they will not stop raising the issue of the foreign origin of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
• 4 April - A First Information Report is lodged against external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha for alleged violation of election code of conduct during a poll meeting in Ranchi. Besides Sinha, FIRs were lodged against three other BJP leaders who participated in the meeting.

• List of members of the 14th Lok Sabha
• 2004 elections in India
• Election Commission of India

• 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