1998 Indian general election

← 1996 16, 22 and 28 February 1998 1999 →
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543 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha[a] 272 seats needed for a majority
Registered	605,880,192
Turnout	61.97% ( 4.03pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sitaram Kesri Harkishan Singh Surjeet Party BJP INC CPI(M) Alliance NDA INC+ LF Last election 20.29%, 161 seats 28.80%, 140 seats 6.12%, 32 seats Seats won 182 141 32 Seat change 21 1 Popular vote 94,266,188 95,111,131 18,991,867 Percentage 25.59% 25.82% 5.16% Swing 5.30pp 2.98pp 0.96pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Inder Kumar Gujral JD Prime Minister after election Atal Bihari Vajpayee BJP

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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.^[1]

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. He 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.^[2] This led to fresh elections in 1999.^[3]

The 1998 general election was the second consecutive election in which the party that received the most votes did not win the most seats.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	95,111,131	25.82	141
	Bharatiya Janata Party	94,266,188	25.59	182
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	18,991,867	5.16	32
	Samajwadi Party	18,167,640	4.93	20
	Bahujan Samaj Party	17,186,779	4.67	5
	Janata Dal	11,930,209	3.24	6
	Rashtriya Janata Dal	10,229,971	2.78	17
	Telugu Desam Party	10,199,463	2.77	12
	West Bengal Trinamool Congress	8,920,583	2.42	7
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	6,731,550	1.83	18
	Shiv Sena	6,528,566	1.77	6
	Samata Party	6,491,639	1.76	12
	Communist Party of India	6,429,569	1.75	9
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,308,388	1.44	6
	Tamil Maanila Congress	5,169,183	1.40	3
	Biju Janata Dal	3,669,825	1.00	9
	Shiromani Akali Dal	3,001,769	0.81	8
	Lok Shakti	2,548,725	0.69	3
	All India Rashtriya Janata Party	2,071,643	0.56	1
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	2,032,585	0.55	5
	Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya)	1,956,087	0.53	4
	Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	1,602,504	0.44	3
	Pattali Makkal Katchi	1,548,976	0.42	4
	Republican Party of India	1,351,019	0.37	4
	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	1,324,548	0.36	0
	All India Forward Bloc	1,213,965	0.33	2
	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	1,181,083	0.32	1
	Asom Gana Parishad	1,064,977	0.29	0
	Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation	912,698	0.25	0
	Haryana Vikas Party	875,803	0.24	1
	Muslim League Kerala State Committee	800,765	0.22	2
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	784,669	0.21	3
	Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party	711,080	0.19	0
	Apna Dal	562,946	0.15	0
	All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen	485,785	0.13	1
	All India Indira Congress (Secular)	457,510	0.12	1
	Puthiya Tamilagam	446,583	0.12	0
	Janata Party	444,305	0.12	1
	NTR Telugu Desam Party (Lakshmi Parvathi)	384,211	0.10	0
	Karnataka Vikas Party	371,346	0.10	0
	United Minorities Front, Assam	357,759	0.10	1
	Kerala Congress (M)	356,168	0.10	1
	Kerala Congress	327,649	0.09	0
	MGR Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	278,324	0.08	0
	Forward Bloc (Socialist)	272,974	0.07	0
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	269,609	0.07	1
	Marxist Co-ordination Committee	263,901	0.07	0
	Shiromani Akali Dal (Simranjit Singh Mann)	248,529	0.07	0
	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Mardi)	240,897	0.07	0
	Bihar Jana Congress	222,371	0.06	0
	United Democratic Party	213,924	0.06	0
	Gondwana Ganatantra Party	196,662	0.05	0
	Manipur State Congress Party	190,358	0.05	1
	Autonomous State Demand Committee	184,241	0.05	1
	Jharkhand Party (Naren)	181,018	0.05	0
	Arunachal Congress	172,496	0.05	2
	Ajeya Bharat Party	157,854	0.04	0
	United Reservation Movement Council of Assam	151,543	0.04	0
	National Loktantrik Party	147,706	0.04	0
	United Goans Democratic Party	132,558	0.04	0
	Mahabharat People's Party	115,785	0.03	0
	Sikkim Democratic Front	102,440	0.03	1
	Peoples Democratic Party	92,083	0.02	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Sena	90,035	0.02	0
	Indian National League	86,697	0.02	0
	Himachal Vikas Congress	85,046	0.02	0
	Mizo National Front	82,047	0.02	0
	Savarn Samaj Party	76,980	0.02	0
	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	70,191	0.02	0
	Jharkhand Party	63,836	0.02	0
	Hill State People's Democratic Party	62,144	0.02	0
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party	43,770	0.01	0
	Bahujan Samaj Party (Ambedkar)	43,402	0.01	0
	Indian Congress (Socialist)	36,677	0.01	0
	Uttarakhand Kranti Dal	30,654	0.01	0
	Akhil Bartiya Manav Seva Dal	26,027	0.01	0
	National Panthers Party	24,638	0.01	0
	Marxist Communist Party of India (S.S. Srivastava)	24,417	0.01	0
	Shoshit Samaj Dal	24,303	0.01	0
	Proutist Sarva Samaj Samiti	23,029	0.01	0
	Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha	20,928	0.01	0
	Jammu and Kashmir Awami League	20,843	0.01	0
	Amra Bangali	20,372	0.01	0
	Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha	19,202	0.01	0
	Garo National Council	16,280	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Jan Sangh	14,284	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha	14,160	0.00	0
	Plain Tribals Council of Assam	12,952	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Vikash Party	11,881	0.00	0
	United Tribal Nationalist Liberation Front	11,287	0.00	0
	Rajasthan Vikas Party	11,267	0.00	0
	Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha	10,064	0.00	0
	United Communist Party of India	10,018	0.00	0
	Bharti Lok Lehar Party	9,959	0.00	0
	Samajwadi Jan Parishad	9,848	0.00	0
	Hindustan Janata Party	9,476	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Jantantrik Parishad	9,367	0.00	0
	Maharashtra Rashtravadi Congress	8,623	0.00	0
	Jharkhand People's Party	7,111	0.00	0
	Sarvadharam Party (Madhya Pradesh)	6,671	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Rajivwadi Congress (Dubey)	6,455	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Rajiv Congress	6,122	0.00	0
	Kisan Vikas Party	5,905	0.00	0
	Jai Telengana Party	5,847	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Bhrastachar Normoolan Sena	5,718	0.00	0
	All India Rajiv Krantikari Congress	5,588	0.00	0
	Pragtisheel Manav Samaj Party	5,495	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Krantikari Kammand Party	4,852	0.00	0
	Shoshit Samaj Party	4,722	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Aikta Manch	4,596	0.00	0
	Bahujan Kranti Dal (JAI)	4,525	0.00	0
	The Humanist Party of India	4,439	0.00	0
	Revolutionary Communist Party of India (Rasik Bhatt)	4,420	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Ali Sena	4,371	0.00	0
	Sanatan Samaj Party	4,238	0.00	0
	Orissa Congress	4,048	0.00	0
	Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)	3,763	0.00	0
	Rastreeya Praja Parishat	3,688	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh	3,030	0.00	0
	Golden India Party	3,002	0.00	0
	Adarsh Lok Dal	2,909	0.00	0
	Manava Party	2,903	0.00	0
	Krantikari Manuwadi Morcha	2,723	0.00	0
	Religion of Man Revolving Political Party of India	2,503	0.00	0
	All India Minorities Front	2,480	0.00	0
	Bahujan Kranti Dal	2,466	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Ashok Sena	2,392	0.00	0
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	2,167	0.00	0
	Gareebjan Samaj Party	2,009	0.00	0
	Andhra Nadu Party	1,915	0.00	0
	All India Muslim Forum	1,866	0.00	0
	Bahujan Vikas Party	1,833	0.00	0
	Pragati Sheel Party	1,828	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Janandholan Paksha	1,708	0.00	0
	Tamilaga Janata	1,697	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Berozgaar Party	1,609	0.00	0
	Prism	1,595	0.00	0
	United Citizens Party	1,591	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Jan Sabha	1,425	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Unnatsheel Das	1,394	0.00	0
	Socialist Party (Lohia)	1,321	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Revolutionary Shoshit Samaj Dal	1,277	0.00	0
	Agrajan Party	1,269	0.00	0
	Ekta Krandi Dal U.P.	1,246	0.00	0
	All India Gareeb Congress	1,222	0.00	0
	Republican Presidium Party of India	1,215	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Garib Mazdoor Kisan Party	1,199	0.00	0
	Indian Bahujan Samajwadi Party	1,162	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Parivartan Morcha	1,111	0.00	0
	Nagaland Peoples Party	1,066	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Momin Front	1,045	0.00	0
	Manav Samaj Party	1,036	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Mazdoor Ekta Party	946	0.00	0
	Hindustan Inqualab Party	883	0.00	0
	Jan Samanta Party	828	0.00	0
	Bhrishtachar Virodhi Dal	754	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Janata Congress	751	0.00	0
	Ambedkarbadi Party	736	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Muslim Mujhahid Party	710	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Shivsena Rashtrawadi	703	0.00	0
	National Republican Party	694	0.00	0
	Hind Kisan Mazdoor Party	614	0.00	0
	Akhil Bhartiya Loktantra Party	609	0.00	0
	Hind Morcha	590	0.00	0
	Punjab Pradesh Vikash Party	576	0.00	0
	Uttar Pradesh Republican Party	552	0.00	0
	Kranti Dal	501	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Jan Jagruti Party	494	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya General Labour Party	412	0.00	0
	Bharatiya Asht Jan Party	363	0.00	0
	Telangana Praja Party	344	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Rajdhani Congress Delhi	343	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Azad Hind Party	306	0.00	0
	Rashtriya Janta Congress	297	0.00	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad (Prem Vallabh Vyas)	150	0.00	0
	Indian Republican Front	118	0.00	0
	Independents	8,719,952	2.37	6
Nominated Anglo-Indians				2
Total		368,376,700	100.00	545
Valid votes		368,376,700	98.12
Invalid/blank votes		7,065,039	1.88
Total votes		375,441,739	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		605,880,192	61.97
Source: ECI

• List of members of the 12th Lok Sabha
• Election Commission of India