Indian general election, 1996
Encyclopedia
General elections were held in India
in 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha
. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Minister
s in two years and force the country back to the polls in 1998. The United Front
, was created and got support from 332 members out of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha
, resulting in H.D. Deve Gowda from the Janata Dal
being the 14th Prime Minister of India
.
government of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao
came into the election on the back of several government scandals and accusations of mishandling. Seven cabinet members had resigned during the previous term, and Rao himself faced charges of corruption. The Congress Party more generally had been plagued in recent years by a series of splits, issues conflicts and factional disputes that had seen various key regional parties and figures abandon the party. In particular, the high profile May 1995 defection of Arjun Singh
and Narayan Dutt Tiwari
to form the new All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)
party underscored the internal divisions within the INC.
The government was further weakened by a series of major scandals breaking less than 12 months from the election. In July 1995 it was found a former Congress youth leader had murdered his wife and tried to destroy the evidence by stuffing her corpse into a tandoor
. In August 1995 the Vohra Report
was finally released to the parliament, decrying that a politician-criminal nexus was "virtually running a parallel government, pushing the state apparatus into irrelevance". Government credibility fell further still when in late 1995 when violence significantly worsened in the Kashmir
region, and sporadic fighting and ethnic tensions boiled over in Punjab
province. As a result of the scandals, the Rao government went into the 1996 election at a low of ebb of public support.
attempted to add several regional coalition partners - most notably the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
and the Bahujan Samaj Party
, but was ultimately unsuccessful in overcoming ideological differences. Yet it did join with several strong regional partners - Shiv Sena
, Haryana Vikas Party
, and the Samata Party
. The Congress party attempted to form regional allies as well, most notably with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which would later cause further rifts within the party as well as the collapse of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu
in 1996.
The so called "Third Force
" during the 1996 elections was the National Front
(NF). After its collapse in 1990, the coalition had chopped and changed before reuniting in the run up to the 1996 election. Three main parties grouped back together in September 1995 in hopes of presenting a viable political choice - the Left Front
, Janata Dal
and the Telugu Desam Party
. It attempted to build a wider coaltion of regional partners and state parties, however negotiations repeatedly broke down, and no consensus could be arrived at on a 'common minimum program' - a platform of issues on which all parties could agree upon. A split in the Uttar Pradesh government in December 1995 divided the front further. Finally, lacking a strong leader or common set of principles, the main three parties joined with the Samajwadi Party
in a common goal of simply denying power to either the Congress or BJP. Thus a characteristic of the 1996 elections was a large number of strong regional and state parties declined to form an alliance with any of the three major contenders for government.
In January only a few months before the election, a major scandal erupted: the Jain hawala
scandal. Jain, an industrialist in the steel and power sectors, was revealed to have given US$33 million dollars in bribes to politicians from nearly all major parties in return for favours. Further shocking the public, Jain had also channelled money to Kashmiri Muslim militants. In the first wave of names implicated were three Rao cabinet members, Arjun Singh
from the breakway Congress (T) party, Bharatiya Janata Party
leader Lal Krishna Advani
, Sharad Yadav
(leader of the Janata Dal
Parliamentary Party), and former Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
. Almost 115 names would eventually be released, and numerous candidates and ministers were forced to resign in the aftermath. Most significantly was the forced resignation of L.K. Advani, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee
taking over as leader of the BJP.
The BJP ran a campaign centred around a four point plan which aimed for probity of public life, self-reliance in the economy, social harmony and greater security. It strongly advocated an economic plan which would significantly scale back government intervention and encourage capital investment and creation. It stressed the role of Hindutva
in its vision for India, creating a more Hindu
orientated state by banning cow slaughter, introducing a uniform civil code and removing the special status of Kashmir. The Congress Party attempted to campaign on its foreign policy record, its handling of the numerous natural and ethnic crises that had emerged over the past five years, and on better concessions for ethnic minorities and separated state governments. It additionally stressed the economic gains already made by the government without the strong economic liberalization plans set out by the BJP, many of which had been the work of future Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
. Janata Dal and the National Front campaigned on maintaining a strong public sector though with some commitment to deregulation and anti-corruption measures. It pushed other more populist measures as well, such as more state-run infrastructure projects, subsidized fertilizer, and increased education investment.
. The result was the worst result for the INC in history to that date, with commentators blaming the poor result on the personal unpopularity of Prime Minister Rao and the numerous internal divisions that had dogged the party. The BJP became the largest party within the Lok Sabha
, a first for a non-Congress party, although it secured neither a significant increase in the popular vote or enough seats to secure a parliamentary majority.
Following Westminster
custom, Indian President
Shankar Dayal Sharma
invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee
as leader of the BJP to form a government. Sworn in on May 15, the new Prime Minister was given two weeks to prove majority support in parliament. In the weeks leading up to the first confidence vote on May 31, the BJP attempted to build a coalition by moderating positions to garner support from regional and Muslim parties, however sectarian issues and fears of certain nationalist policies of the BJP hampered efforts. On May 28, Vajpayee conceded that he could not arrange support from more than 200 of the 545 members of parliament, and thus resigned rather than face the confidence vote, ending his 13 day government.
The second largest party, the Indian National Congress
, declined to attempt to form a government, instead choosing to support one headed by Janata Dal
, and chose Karnataka
Chief Minister H. D. Deve Gowda
to assume the Prime Minister post. Janata Dal and a bloc of smaller parties thus formed the United Front
which would form the government coalition for the next two years. However, the United Front was beset by internal tensions, accommodating as it did parties with ideologies from free market
to unreconstructed Marxist, and would spend the next two years balancing delicate coalition arrangements and appeasing this uneasy alliance. This arrangement would prove impossible to sustain, and within 18 months Indians would go back to the polls.
|- bgcolor="#e9e9e9" style="text-align: center"
!colspan="2"|Parties and Alliances
!Votes
!%
!Change
!Seats
!Change
|-
|style="background-color:#FF8000"|
|style="text-align: left"|Bharatiya Janata Party
(Indian People's Party) || 67,950,851 || 20.29 || +0.18 || 161 || +41
|-
|style="background-color:#FFB200"|
|style="text-align: left"|BJP Affiliated Parties
|
4,989,994
1,156,322
|
1.49
0.35
|
+0.69
+0.23
|
15
3
|
+11
+2
|-
|style="background-color:#007D48"|
|style="text-align: left"|Indian National Congress
| 96,455,493
| 28.80
| -7.46
| 140
| -92
|-
|style="background-color:#FFE500"|
|style="text-align: left"|National Front
|
10,989,2419,931,826
|
3.282.97
|
—-0.02
|
1716
|
—+3
|-
|style="background-color:#E65050"|
|style="text-align: left"|Left Front
|
6,582,2632,105,4691,279,492
|
1.970.630.38
|
-0.52-0.01-0.04
|
1253
|
-2+1—
|-
|style="background-color:#FFBFEF"|
|style="text-align: left"|Tamil Maanila Congress
|| 7,339,982 || 2.19 || — || 20 || —
|-
|style="background-color:black"|
|style="text-align: left"|Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(Dravidian Progress Federation)|| 7,151,381 || 2.14 || +0.05 || 17 || +17
|-
|style="background-color:#3D6AF2"|
|style="text-align: left"|Bahujan Samaj Party
(Majority Society Party) || 13,453,235 || 4.02 || +2.41 || 11 || +9
|-
|style="background-color:grey"|
|style="text-align: left"|Other Seated Parties
|
2,560,5064,903,070757,316340,070180,112337,539124,218109,346382,3191,287,072581,868129,220
|
0.761.460.230.100.050.100.040.030.110.380.170.04
|
+0.22—-0.08-0.06-0.45————-0.16—+0.02
|
542111111111
|
+4————+1+1+1+1-5—+1
|-
|style="background-color:gray"|
|style="text-align: left"|Unseated Parties || 15,395,309 || 4.61 || — || 0 || —
|-
|style="background-color:gray"|
|style="text-align: left"|Independents || 21,041,557 || 6.28 || +2.12 || 9 || +8
|-
|style="background-color:grey"|
|style="text-align: left"|Nominated Anglo-Indians || — || — || — || 2 || —
|-
|- bgcolor="#e9e9e9"
|colspan="2" style="text-align: left"|Total|| 334,873,286 || 100% || || 545 ||
|-
|}
Source: Electoral Commission of India, Statistical Report on General Elections, 1996 to the 11th Lok Sabha
Source: Muse Journal
St. Petersburg Times
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha
11th Lok Sabha
List of Members of the 11th Lok Sabha, elected during Indian general election, 1996 held during April-May 1996. The Lok Sabha is the lower house in the Parliament of India.-Important members:* Speaker:...
. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
s in two years and force the country back to the polls in 1998. The United Front
United Front (India)
The United Front was a coalition government of 13 political parties formed in India after the 1996 general elections. The coalition formed two governments in India between 1996 and 1998. The government was headed by two Prime Ministers from Janata Dal - H. D. Deve Gowda, and I. K. Gujral...
, was created and got support from 332 members out of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
, resulting in H.D. Deve Gowda from the Janata Dal
Janata Dal
Janata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress, and the Jan Morcha led by V. P...
being the 14th Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
.
Background
The Indian National CongressIndian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
government of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao
P. V. Narasimha Rao
Pamulaparti Venkata "Narasimha Rao" was the ninth Prime Minister of India . He led an important administration, overseeing a major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting national security of India. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the Licence Raj. He is often referred to as...
came into the election on the back of several government scandals and accusations of mishandling. Seven cabinet members had resigned during the previous term, and Rao himself faced charges of corruption. The Congress Party more generally had been plagued in recent years by a series of splits, issues conflicts and factional disputes that had seen various key regional parties and figures abandon the party. In particular, the high profile May 1995 defection of Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh was an Indian politician from the Indian National Congress party. He was the Union Minister of Human Resource Development in the Manmohan Singh cabinet from 2004 to 2009....
and Narayan Dutt Tiwari
Narayan Dutt Tiwari
Narayan Dutt Tiwari is an Indian political figure. He was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh three times during the 1970s and 1980s and was Chief Minister of Uttarkhand from 2002 to 2007...
to form the new All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)
All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)
The All India Indira Congress was a political party in India set up by dissident Indian National Congress party leaders Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Arjun Singh and K. Natwar Singh. The party later merged with the Congress party when Sonia Gandhi took over the party....
party underscored the internal divisions within the INC.
The government was further weakened by a series of major scandals breaking less than 12 months from the election. In July 1995 it was found a former Congress youth leader had murdered his wife and tried to destroy the evidence by stuffing her corpse into a tandoor
Tandoor
A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in cooking and baking. The tandoor is used for cooking in Azerbaijan, India, Turkey, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central Asia, as well as Burma and Bangladesh.The heat for a tandoor was...
. In August 1995 the Vohra Report
Vohra Report
The Vohra Report was submitted by the former Indian Union Home Secretary, N.N. Vohra, in October 1993. It studied the problem of the criminalisation of politics and of the nexus among criminals, politicians and bureaucrats in India....
was finally released to the parliament, decrying that a politician-criminal nexus was "virtually running a parallel government, pushing the state apparatus into irrelevance". Government credibility fell further still when in late 1995 when violence significantly worsened in the Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
region, and sporadic fighting and ethnic tensions boiled over in Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
province. As a result of the scandals, the Rao government went into the 1996 election at a low of ebb of public support.
Campaign
The elections triggered a significant realignment of political forces in India, with all-India parties attempting to construct widespread regional coalitions with minor parties in order to secure a central majority. Such political negotiations were to become an increasingly necessary process in Indian politics over the next two decades as the dominance of the INC declined and smaller, ethnic and regional parties took its place. The Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Lal Krishna AdvaniLal Krishna Advani
Lal Kishanchand Advani known as Lal Krishna Advani is a Veteran Indian politician. A former president of the Bharatiya Janata Party , which is currently the major opposition party in the Indian Parliament. He also served as a Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004...
attempted to add several regional coalition partners - most notably the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. The party was founded by M. G. Ramachandran and is now headed by J. Jayalalithaa. The party headquarters is in Royapettah, Chennai, and was gifted to the party in 1986 by its...
and the Bahujan Samaj Party
Bahujan Samaj Party
The Bahujan Samaj Party is a centrist national political party in India with socialist leanings. It was formed to chiefly represent Bahujans , referring to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes as well as Buddhists. The party claims to be inspired by the...
, but was ultimately unsuccessful in overcoming ideological differences. Yet it did join with several strong regional partners - Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena
Shiv Sena , is a political party in India founded on 19 June 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray. It is currently headed by Thackeray's son, Uddhav Thackeray...
, Haryana Vikas Party
Haryana Vikas Party
Haryana Vikas Party was a political party in the Indian state of Haryana. Its president was Bansi Lal and general secretary Surender Singh.On October 14, 2004 HVP merged with the Indian National Congress....
, and the Samata Party
Samata Party
The Samata Party is a political party in India. Initially formed as an offshoot of the Janata Dal in 1994 by Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes. The reason given was that the Janata Dal had shifted to casteism...
. The Congress party attempted to form regional allies as well, most notably with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which would later cause further rifts within the party as well as the collapse of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
in 1996.
The so called "Third Force
Third Force
The Third Force was a paramilitary movement established by unionist politicians in Northern Ireland in 1981.The group was established by Ian Paisley, ostensibly as a complement to the security forces, although it bore many of the hallmarks of the earlier Ulster Protestant Volunteers...
" during the 1996 elections was the National Front
National Front (India)
The National Front was a coalition of political parties, led by the Janata Dal, which formed India's government between 1989 and 1990 under the leadership of N. T. Rama Rao as President and V. P. Singh as Convener. The coalition's prime minister was V. P. Singh...
(NF). After its collapse in 1990, the coalition had chopped and changed before reuniting in the run up to the 1996 election. Three main parties grouped back together in September 1995 in hopes of presenting a viable political choice - the Left Front
Left Front
The Left Front is an alliance of Indian leftist parties. After a 34-year reign in West Bengal, the Left Front was swept from power in the 2011 election...
, Janata Dal
Janata Dal
Janata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress, and the Jan Morcha led by V. P...
and the Telugu Desam Party
Telugu Desam Party
Telugu Desam Party or TDP is a regional political party in India's Andhra Pradesh state. It was founded by former Telugu film star N. T...
. It attempted to build a wider coaltion of regional partners and state parties, however negotiations repeatedly broke down, and no consensus could be arrived at on a 'common minimum program' - a platform of issues on which all parties could agree upon. A split in the Uttar Pradesh government in December 1995 divided the front further. Finally, lacking a strong leader or common set of principles, the main three parties joined with the Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party
Samajwadi Party is a political party in India. It is based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It describes itself as a democratic socialist party...
in a common goal of simply denying power to either the Congress or BJP. Thus a characteristic of the 1996 elections was a large number of strong regional and state parties declined to form an alliance with any of the three major contenders for government.
In January only a few months before the election, a major scandal erupted: the Jain hawala
Hawala
Hawala is an informal value transfer system based on the performance and honor of a huge network of money brokers, which are primarily located in the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and South Asia...
scandal. Jain, an industrialist in the steel and power sectors, was revealed to have given US$33 million dollars in bribes to politicians from nearly all major parties in return for favours. Further shocking the public, Jain had also channelled money to Kashmiri Muslim militants. In the first wave of names implicated were three Rao cabinet members, Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh
Arjun Singh was an Indian politician from the Indian National Congress party. He was the Union Minister of Human Resource Development in the Manmohan Singh cabinet from 2004 to 2009....
from the breakway Congress (T) party, Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
leader Lal Krishna Advani
Lal Krishna Advani
Lal Kishanchand Advani known as Lal Krishna Advani is a Veteran Indian politician. A former president of the Bharatiya Janata Party , which is currently the major opposition party in the Indian Parliament. He also served as a Deputy Prime Minister of India from 2002 to 2004...
, Sharad Yadav
Sharad Yadav
Sharad Yadav, a politician from the Janata Dal party, is currently a Member of the Parliament of India representing the Madhepura constituency of Bihar in the Lok Sabha...
(leader of the Janata Dal
Janata Dal
Janata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress, and the Jan Morcha led by V. P...
Parliamentary Party), and former Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...
. Almost 115 names would eventually be released, and numerous candidates and ministers were forced to resign in the aftermath. Most significantly was the forced resignation of L.K. Advani, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian statesman who served as the tenth Prime Minister of India three times – first for a brief term of 13 days in 1996, and then for two terms from 1998 to 2004. After his first brief period as Prime Minister in 1996, Vajpayee headed a coalition government from...
taking over as leader of the BJP.
The BJP ran a campaign centred around a four point plan which aimed for probity of public life, self-reliance in the economy, social harmony and greater security. It strongly advocated an economic plan which would significantly scale back government intervention and encourage capital investment and creation. It stressed the role of Hindutva
Hindutva
Hindutva is the term used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism. Members of the movement are called Hindutvavādis.In India, an umbrella organization called the Sangh Parivar champions the concept of Hindutva...
in its vision for India, creating a more Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
orientated state by banning cow slaughter, introducing a uniform civil code and removing the special status of Kashmir. The Congress Party attempted to campaign on its foreign policy record, its handling of the numerous natural and ethnic crises that had emerged over the past five years, and on better concessions for ethnic minorities and separated state governments. It additionally stressed the economic gains already made by the government without the strong economic liberalization plans set out by the BJP, many of which had been the work of future Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term. A Sikh, he is the first non-Hindu to occupy the office. Singh is also the 7th Prime Minister belonging to the Indian...
. Janata Dal and the National Front campaigned on maintaining a strong public sector though with some commitment to deregulation and anti-corruption measures. It pushed other more populist measures as well, such as more state-run infrastructure projects, subsidized fertilizer, and increased education investment.
Results
The election delivered an unclear mandate and resulted in a hung parliamentHung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
. The result was the worst result for the INC in history to that date, with commentators blaming the poor result on the personal unpopularity of Prime Minister Rao and the numerous internal divisions that had dogged the party. The BJP became the largest party within the Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
, a first for a non-Congress party, although it secured neither a significant increase in the popular vote or enough seats to secure a parliamentary majority.
Following Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
custom, Indian President
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
Shankar Dayal Sharma
Shankar Dayal Sharma
Shankar Dayal Sharma was the ninth President of India serving from 1992 to 1997. Prior to his presidency, Dr Sharma had been the eighth Vice President of India, serving under President Ramaswamy Venkataraman...
invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an Indian statesman who served as the tenth Prime Minister of India three times – first for a brief term of 13 days in 1996, and then for two terms from 1998 to 2004. After his first brief period as Prime Minister in 1996, Vajpayee headed a coalition government from...
as leader of the BJP to form a government. Sworn in on May 15, the new Prime Minister was given two weeks to prove majority support in parliament. In the weeks leading up to the first confidence vote on May 31, the BJP attempted to build a coalition by moderating positions to garner support from regional and Muslim parties, however sectarian issues and fears of certain nationalist policies of the BJP hampered efforts. On May 28, Vajpayee conceded that he could not arrange support from more than 200 of the 545 members of parliament, and thus resigned rather than face the confidence vote, ending his 13 day government.
The second largest party, the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
, declined to attempt to form a government, instead choosing to support one headed by Janata Dal
Janata Dal
Janata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress, and the Jan Morcha led by V. P...
, and chose Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
Chief Minister H. D. Deve Gowda
H. D. Deve Gowda
Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda was the 11th Prime Minister of India and the 14th chief minister of the state of Karnataka ....
to assume the Prime Minister post. Janata Dal and a bloc of smaller parties thus formed the United Front
United Front (India)
The United Front was a coalition government of 13 political parties formed in India after the 1996 general elections. The coalition formed two governments in India between 1996 and 1998. The government was headed by two Prime Ministers from Janata Dal - H. D. Deve Gowda, and I. K. Gujral...
which would form the government coalition for the next two years. However, the United Front was beset by internal tensions, accommodating as it did parties with ideologies from free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
to unreconstructed Marxist, and would spend the next two years balancing delicate coalition arrangements and appeasing this uneasy alliance. This arrangement would prove impossible to sustain, and within 18 months Indians would go back to the polls.
Results by Pre-Poll Alliances
Summary of the April–May, 1996 Lok Sabha Election|- bgcolor="#e9e9e9" style="text-align: center"
!colspan="2"|Parties and Alliances
!Votes
!%
!Change
!Seats
!Change
|-
|style="background-color:#FF8000"|
|style="text-align: left"|Bharatiya Janata Party
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
(Indian People's Party) || 67,950,851 || 20.29 || +0.18 || 161 || +41
|-
|style="background-color:#FFB200"|
|style="text-align: left"|BJP Affiliated Parties
- Samata PartySamata PartyThe Samata Party is a political party in India. Initially formed as an offshoot of the Janata Dal in 1994 by Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes. The reason given was that the Janata Dal had shifted to casteism...
- Shiv SenaShiv SenaShiv Sena , is a political party in India founded on 19 June 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray. It is currently headed by Thackeray's son, Uddhav Thackeray...
(Army of Shiva) - Himachal Vikas Party
|
13,402,402
7,256,0864,989,994
1,156,322
|
4.01
2.171.49
0.35
|
—
—+0.69
+0.23
|
26
815
3
|
—
—+11
+2
|-
|style="background-color:#007D48"|
|style="text-align: left"|Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
| 96,455,493
| 28.80
| -7.46
| 140
| -92
|-
|style="background-color:#FFE500"|
|style="text-align: left"|National Front
- Janata DalJanata DalJanata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress, and the Jan Morcha led by V. P...
(People's Party) - Samajwadi PartySamajwadi PartySamajwadi Party is a political party in India. It is based in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It describes itself as a democratic socialist party...
(Socialist Party) - Telugu Desam PartyTelugu Desam PartyTelugu Desam Party or TDP is a regional political party in India's Andhra Pradesh state. It was founded by former Telugu film star N. T...
(Party of the Telugu People)
|
47,991,407
27,070,34010,989,2419,931,826
|
14.33
8.083.282.97
|
—
-3.76—-0.02
|
79
461716
|
—
-13—+3
|-
|style="background-color:#E65050"|
|style="text-align: left"|Left Front
- Communist Party of India (Marxist)Communist Party of India (Marxist)The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...
- Communist Party of IndiaCommunist Party of IndiaThe Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
- Revolutionary Socialist PartyRevolutionary Socialist Party (India)Revolutionary Socialist Party is a Marxist-Leninist political party in India. The party was founded on March 19, 1940 and has its roots in the Bengali liberation movement Anushilan Samiti and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army. The party got around 0,4% of the votes and three seats in the Lok...
- All India Forward BlocAll India Forward BlocThe All India Forward Bloc is a leftwing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party after the independence of India...
|
30,464,034
20,496,8106,582,2632,105,4691,279,492
|
9.10
6.121.970.630.38
|
—
-0.04-0.52-0.01-0.04
|
52
321253
|
—
-3-2+1—
|-
|style="background-color:#FFBFEF"|
|style="text-align: left"|Tamil Maanila Congress
Tamil Maanila Congress
The Tamil Maanila Congress was a political party in Tamil Nadu. It was started by G K Moopanar by breaking away from the Indian National Congress protesting the decision of the party high command to form an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. After the death of Moopanar, his...
|| 7,339,982 || 2.19 || — || 20 || —
|-
|style="background-color:black"|
|style="text-align: left"|Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar...
(Dravidian Progress Federation)|| 7,151,381 || 2.14 || +0.05 || 17 || +17
|-
|style="background-color:#3D6AF2"|
|style="text-align: left"|Bahujan Samaj Party
Bahujan Samaj Party
The Bahujan Samaj Party is a centrist national political party in India with socialist leanings. It was formed to chiefly represent Bahujans , referring to people from the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes as well as Buddhists. The party claims to be inspired by the...
(Majority Society Party) || 13,453,235 || 4.02 || +2.41 || 11 || +9
|-
|style="background-color:grey"|
|style="text-align: left"|Other Seated Parties
- Shiromani Akali DalShiromani Akali DalThe Shiromani Akali Dal , translation: Supreme Akali Party) is a Sikh nationalist political parties based in Punjab. The current party to be recognized by the Election Commission of India is the one led by Parkash Singh Badal...
(Akali Religious Party) - Asom Gana ParishadAsom Gana ParishadAsom Gana Parishad is a state political party in Assam, India. The AGP was formed after the historic Assam Accord of 1985 when Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was elected as the youngest chief minister of the country...
(Assam Peoples Association) - All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)The All India Indira Congress was a political party in India set up by dissident Indian National Congress party leaders Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Arjun Singh and K. Natwar Singh. The party later merged with the Congress party when Sonia Gandhi took over the party....
- Indian Union Muslim LeagueIndian Union Muslim LeagueIndian Union Muslim League is a state political party in the state of Kerala, India. The chief support base of the party falls inside northern and central Kerala...
- All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimen
- Autonomous State Demand CommitteeAutonomous State Demand CommitteeAutonomous State Demand Committee, originally the Peoples Democratic Front, was set up as a mass organization of the Communist Party of India Liberation in order to fight for statehood for the Karbi Anlong region in the Indian state Assam. Several elections to the Lok Sabha and the District...
- Madhya Pradesh Vikas CongressMadhya Pradesh Vikas CongressMadhya Pradesh Vikas Congress was a political party in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh from 1996 to 1998. MPVC was founded by former aviation minister Madhavrao Scindia, after that Scindia had been refused an Indian National Congress ticket for the 1996 Lok Sabha elections...
- Sikkim Democratic FrontSikkim Democratic FrontSikkim Democratic Front is a political party in the Indian state of Sikkim. The party was founded by Pawan Kumar Chamling in 1993. It has ruled the state since 1994 with Pawan Kumar Chamling as the chief minister. The party consolidated its position sweeping the 1999 and 2004 state elections. It...
- United Goans Democratic PartyUnited Goans Democratic PartyUnited Goans Democratic Party is one of two formerly dominant political parties in the Indian state of Goa. UGDP has its base amongst the Christian part of the population....
- Kerala Congress (Mani)
- Jharkhand Mukti MorchaJharkhand Mukti MorchaJharkhand Mukti Morcha is a state political party in the state Jharkhand, India. It has a strength of 2 in the 15th Lok Sabha. Shibu Soren is the president of JMM...
- Karnataka Congress PartyKarnataka Congress PartyKarnataka Congress Party, was a regional political party in Karnataka, India. KCP was formed when S. Bangarappa broke away from the Indian National Congress in 1994. In the 1994 state assembly elections KCP won ten seats, which was far below pre-election speculations. KCP later reunited with...
- Maharashtrawadi Gomantak PartyMaharashtrawadi Gomantak PartyMaharashtrawadi Gomantak Party was Goa's first ruling party after the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1961. In the first elections held after India took over the former Portuguese colony, it ascended to power in December 1963 and stayed on, till being ousted from power by defections in early...
|
14,227,635
2,534,9792,560,5064,903,070757,316340,070180,112337,539124,218109,346382,3191,287,072581,868129,220
|
4.23
0.760.761.460.230.100.050.100.040.030.110.380.170.04
|
—
+0.46+0.22—-0.08-0.06-0.45————-0.16—+0.02
|
28
8542111111111
|
—
+8+4————+1+1+1+1-5—+1
|-
|style="background-color:gray"|
|style="text-align: left"|Unseated Parties || 15,395,309 || 4.61 || — || 0 || —
|-
|style="background-color:gray"|
|style="text-align: left"|Independents || 21,041,557 || 6.28 || +2.12 || 9 || +8
|-
|style="background-color:grey"|
|style="text-align: left"|Nominated Anglo-Indians || — || — || — || 2 || —
|-
|- bgcolor="#e9e9e9"
|colspan="2" style="text-align: left"|Total|| 334,873,286 || 100% || || 545 ||
|-
|}
Source: Electoral Commission of India, Statistical Report on General Elections, 1996 to the 11th Lok Sabha
United Front Post-Poll Alliance
| Alliance | Party | Seats | % Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Front United Front (India) The United Front was a coalition government of 13 political parties formed in India after the 1996 general elections. The coalition formed two governments in India between 1996 and 1998. The government was headed by two Prime Ministers from Janata Dal - H. D. Deve Gowda, and I. K. Gujral... Seats: 192 % Votes:~28.52% |
National Front National Front (India) The National Front was a coalition of political parties, led by the Janata Dal, which formed India's government between 1989 and 1990 under the leadership of N. T. Rama Rao as President and V. P. Singh as Convener. The coalition's prime minister was V. P. Singh... |
79 | 14.33 |
| Left Front Left Front The Left Front is an alliance of Indian leftist parties. After a 34-year reign in West Bengal, the Left Front was swept from power in the 2011 election... |
52 | 9.10 | |
| Tamil Maanila Congress Tamil Maanila Congress The Tamil Maanila Congress was a political party in Tamil Nadu. It was started by G K Moopanar by breaking away from the Indian National Congress protesting the decision of the party high command to form an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. After the death of Moopanar, his... |
20 | 2.19 | |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar... |
17 | 2.14 | |
| Asom Gana Parishad Asom Gana Parishad Asom Gana Parishad is a state political party in Assam, India. The AGP was formed after the historic Assam Accord of 1985 when Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was elected as the youngest chief minister of the country... |
5 | 0.76 | |
| Other Minor Parties | 19 | n/a | |
Source: Muse Journal
Support for formation of United Front-led Government (under Deve Gowda)
| Political Parties/Alliances supporting the government |
|---|
| United Front United Front (India) The United Front was a coalition government of 13 political parties formed in India after the 1996 general elections. The coalition formed two governments in India between 1996 and 1998. The government was headed by two Prime Ministers from Janata Dal - H. D. Deve Gowda, and I. K. Gujral... (192)Indian National Congress Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian... (140) |
| Total: 332 votes (61.1%) |
Support for formation of United Front-led Government (under I.K. Gujral)
| Political Parties/Alliances supporting the government |
|---|
| United Front United Front (India) The United Front was a coalition government of 13 political parties formed in India after the 1996 general elections. The coalition formed two governments in India between 1996 and 1998. The government was headed by two Prime Ministers from Janata Dal - H. D. Deve Gowda, and I. K. Gujral... (178)Indian National Congress Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian... (140) |
| Total: 318 votes (58.7%) |
St. Petersburg Times
See also
- State Assembly elections in India, 1996
- Election Commission of IndiaElection Commission of IndiaThe Election Commission of India is an autonomous, quasi-judiciary constitutional body of India. Its mission is to conduct free and fair elections in India...
- Indian presidential election, 1992Indian presidential election, 1992The Election Commission of India held indirect 10th presidential elections of India on 24 July 1992. Shankar Dayal Sharma with 675,864 votes won over his nearest rival G.G. Swell who got 346,485 votes.-Candidates:...