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.
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 and several other parties with just an MP or two, like the parties from North-Eastern states like Arunachal Congress, Manipur Congress, Sikkim Democratic Front. Vajpayee 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. This led to fresh elections in 1999.
The elections were the second consecutive general elections in which the party that received the most votes did not win the most seats.
Results
By state/union territory and alliance State (# of seats)Alliance/partySeats contestedSeats wonVote %Andhra Pradesh (42) Congress+ Indian National Congress422242.79Third Front Telugu Desam Party351232 Communist Party Of India (CPI) 322.6 Janata Dal110.9 Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 302.9rowspan="2" NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)38418.3 NTR Telugu Desam Party (Lakshmi Parvathi)301.2 - - All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen111.5Arunachal Pradesh (2) - - Arunachal Congress2252.5rowspan="1" Congress+ Indian National Congress2023.9 NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)2021.7Assam (14)rowspan="1" Congress+ Indian National Congress131039.0rowspan="1" NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)14124.5 - - Asom Gana Parishad10012.7 - - Autonomous State Demand Committee 112.2 - - United Minorities Front, Assam3110.46 - - Independent4519.5Bihar (54)rowspan="2" NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)322024 Samata Party211015.77rowspan="2" Congress+ Rashtriya Janata Dal381726.6 Indian National Congress1156.3Third Front Janata Dal2817.3 Communist Party of India (CPI) 1503.4 Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 400.4 All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) 100 - - All India Rashtriya Janata Party310.9Goa (2) Congress+ Indian National Congress2231.6 NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)2030Gujarat (26)NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)261948.3 Congress+ Indian National Congress26738Haryana (10) - - Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya)7425.9rowspan="1" Congress+ Indian National Congress10326.0rowspan="2" NDA Haryana Vikas Party4111.6 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)6118.9 - - Bahujan Samaj Party317.7Himachal Pradesh (4)NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)4351.4rowspan="1" Congress+ Indian National Congress4141.9 - - Himachal Vikas Congress403.6Jammu & Kashmir (6) - - Jammu & Kashmir National Conference6336.4 NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)6228.6 Congress+ Indian National Congress6119.2Karnataka (28)rowspan="2" NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)181326.9 Lok Shakti10311.5 Congress+ Indian National Congress28936.2 - - Janata Dal28321.7Kerala (20)rowspan="3" Congress+ Indian National Congress17838.7 Kerala Congress (M)112.4 Muslim League Kerala State Committee225Third Front Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 9621 Communist Party of India (CPI) 428.3 Revolutionary Socialist Party112.7 Kerala Congress102.2 Janata Dal203.9NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)2008Madhya Pradesh (40) NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)403045.7 Congress+ Indian National Congress401039.4 - - Bahujan Samaj Party3508.7Maharashtra (48)rowspan="3" Congress+ Indian National Congress413343.6 Republican Party of India444.1 Samajwadi Party201.5rowspan="3" NDA Shiv Sena22619.7 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)25422.5 Independent101.1 - - Peasants And Workers Party of India210.9Manipur (2) - - Communist Party Of India (CPI) 2120.5 - - Manipur State Congress Party2125.4rowspan="2" NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)1012.6 Lok Shakti100.2Orissa (21)rowspan="2" NDA Biju Janata Dal12927.5 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)9721.2rowspan="1" Congress+ Indian National Congress21541Punjab (13)rowspan="4" NDA Shiromani Akali Dal8832.9 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)3311.7 Janata Dal114.2 Independent113.8rowspan="3" Congress+ Indian National Congress8025.8 Communist Party of India (CPI) 103.4 Bahujan Samaj Party4012.6Rajasthan (25) Congress+ Indian National Congress251844.5NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)25541.7 - - All India Indira Congress (Secular)911.9 - - Independent5013.8Tamil Nadu (39)rowspan="6" NDA All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam221825.9 Pattali Makkal Katchi546 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)536.9 Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam536.3 Janata Party111.5 Independent113.62rowspan="3" Congress+ Indian National Congress3504.8 MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam301.1 United Communist Party Of India 100Third Front Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam16418.5 Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) 19319.2 Communist Party Of India (CPI) 212.5 Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 200.6 - - Independent12712.5Uttar Pradesh (85)rowspan="3" NDA Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)825736.5 Samata Party220.8 Shiv Sena100.1 Congress+ Indian National Congress7606 - - Bahujan Samaj Party85420.9 - - Samajwadi Party812028.7 - - Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)110.5 - - Independent49112.8West Bengal (42)Third Front Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 322435.4 Communist Party Of India (CPI) 333.6 Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) 444.5 All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) 323.3rowspan="2" NDA All India Trinamool Congress (AITC)28724.1 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)14110.2 UPA Indian National Congress (INC)39115.2
Government formation +Political PartySeatsAllianceBharatiya Janata Party182National Democratic AllianceAll India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam18Samata Party12Biju Janata Dal9Shiromani Akali Dal8West Bengal Trinamool Congress7Shiv Sena6Pattali Makkal Katchi4Lok Shakti3Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam3Janata Dal (out of 6 M.Ps)2Arunachal Congress2Janata Party1Haryana Vikas Party1Sikkim Democratic Front1Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress (As Independent)1Manipur State Congress Party1Bahujan Samaj Morcha (As Independent)1Independent2Telugu Desam Party12outside supportTotal276
See also List of members of the 12th Lok Sabha :Category:1998 Indian general election by state or union territory
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