| Country: | India |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1999 Indian general election |
| Previous Year: | 1999 |
| Next Election: | 2009 Indian general election |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
| Outgoing Members: | List of members of the 13th Lok Sabha |
| Elected Members: | List of members of the 14th Lok Sabha |
| Seats For Election: | 543 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha |
| Majority Seats: | 272 |
| Registered: | 671,487,930 |
| Turnout: | 58.07% (1.92pp) |
| 1Blank: | Alliance seats |
| Leader1: | Sonia Gandhi |
| Party1: | Indian National Congress |
| Alliance1: | INC+ |
| Last Election1: | 28.30%, 114 seats |
| Seats1: | 145 |
| Seat Change1: | 31 |
| Popular Vote1: | 103,408,949 |
| Percentage1: | 26.53% |
| Swing1: | 1.77pp |
| Leader2: | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Party2: | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Alliance2: | National Democratic Alliance |
| Last Election2: | 23.75%, 182 seats |
| Seats2: | 138 |
| Seat Change2: | 44 |
| Popular Vote2: | 86,371,561 |
| Percentage2: | 22.16% |
| Swing2: | 1.59pp |
| Leader3: | Harkishan Singh Surjeet |
| Party3: | Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
| Alliance3: | LF |
| Last Election3: | 5.40%, 33 seats |
| Seats3: | 43 |
| Seat Change3: | 10 |
| Popular Vote3: | 22,070,614 |
| Percentage3: | 5.66% |
| Swing3: | 0.26pp |
| 1Data1: | 218 |
| 1Data2: | 181 |
| 1Data3: | 60 |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Prime Minister after election |
| Before Election: | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Before Party: | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| After Election: | Manmohan Singh |
| After Party: | Indian National Congress |
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]
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.
| Totalconstituencies | Election dates and number of constituencies | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 | |||
| 20 April | 26 April | 5 May | 10 May | |||
| Andhra Pradesh | 42 | 21 | 21 | |||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Assam | 14 | 6 | 8 | |||
| Bihar | 40 | 11 | 17 | 12 | ||
| Chhattisgarh | 11 | 11 | ||||
| Goa | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Gujarat | 26 | 26 | ||||
| Haryana | 10 | 10 | ||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Jammu and Kashmir | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jharkhand | 14 | 6 | 8 | |||
| Karnataka | 28 | 15 | 13 | |||
| Kerala | 20 | 20 | ||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 29 | 12 | 17 | |||
| Maharashtra | 48 | 24 | 24 | |||
| Manipur | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Meghalaya | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Mizoram | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Nagaland | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Odisha | 21 | 11 | 10 | |||
| Punjab | 13 | 13 | ||||
| Rajasthan | 25 | 25 | ||||
| Sikkim | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Tamil Nadu | 39 | 39 | ||||
| Tripura | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 80 | 32 | 30 | 18 | ||
| Uttarakhand | 5 | 5 | ||||
| West Bengal | 42 | 42 | ||||
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Chandigarh | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Daman and Diu | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Delhi | 7 | 7 | ||||
| Lakshadweep | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Puducherry | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Constituencies | 543 | 141 | 137 | 83 | 182 | |
| Total states/UTs polling on this day | 16 | 11 | 7 | 16 | ||
| Total constituencies by end of phase | 141 | 278 | 361 | 543 | ||
| % complete by end of phase | 26% | 51% | 66% | 100% | ||
| States/UTs | Constituencies | |||||
| Number of states and UTs polling in single phase | 24 | 219 | ||||
| Number of states and UTs polling in two phases | 8 | 198 | ||||
| Number of states and UTs polling in three phases | 2 | 120 | ||||
| Number of states and UTs polling in four phases | 1 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 35 | 543 | ||||
| Result | 13 May 2004 | |||||
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.
| Conducted in month(s) | bgcolor= | bgcolor= | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NDA | UPA | Other | |||
| August 2002 | 250 | 195 | 100 | ||
| February 2003 | 315 | 115 | 115 | ||
| August 2003 | 247 | 180 | 115 | ||
| January 2004 | 335 | 110 | 100 |
| Polling organisation | bgcolor= | bgcolor= | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NDA | UPA | Other | |||
| NDTV-AC Nielsen | 230-250 | 190-205 | 100-120 | ||
| Star News-C voter | 263-275 | 174-184 | 86-98 | ||
| Aaj Tak-MARG | 248 | 190 | 105 | ||
| Sahara DRS | 278 | 181 | 102 | ||
| Zee News-Taleem | 249 | 176 | 117 | ||
| Actual result | 181 | 218 | 143 | ||
| Sources:-[8] [9] [10] | |||||
| State/UT | Seats | Electors | Voters | Turnout | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | Total | Men | Women | Total | ||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 42 | 2,53,55,118 | 2,57,91,224 | 5,11,46,342 | 1,83,20,019 | 1,73,84,444 | 3,57,76,275 | 72.25 | 67.4 | 69.95% | ||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 2 | 3,51,564 | 3,32,470 | 6,84,034 | 1,99,413 | 1,83,909 | 3,85,446 | 56.72 | 55.31 | 56.35% | ||
| Assam | 14 | 78,21,591 | 71,93,283 | 1,50,14,874 | 56,71,454 | 47,01,710 | 1,03,77,354 | 72.51 | 65.36 | 69.11% | ||
| Bihar | 40 | 2,70,53,408 | 2,35,06,264 | 5,05,59,672 | 1,71,95,139 | 1,21,34,913 | 2,93,32,306 | 63.56 | 51.62 | 58.02% | ||
| Chhattisgarh | 11 | 69,04,742 | 68,14,700 | 1,37,19,442 | 40,39,747 | 31,00,827 | 71,46,189 | 58.51 | 45.50 | 52.09% | ||
| Goa | 2 | 4,75,847 | 4,65,320 | 9,41,167 | 2,86,156 | 2,64,934 | 5,53,105 | 60.14 | 56.94 | 58.77% | ||
| Gujarat | 26 | 1,73,41,760 | 1,63,33,302 | 3,36,75,062 | 86,64,929 | 65,43,424 | 1,52,13,501 | 49.97 | 40.06 | 45.18% | ||
| Haryana | 10 | 66,60,631 | 56,59,926 | 1,23,20,557 | 45,36,234 | 35,54,361 | 80,97,064 | 68.11 | 62.80 | 65.72% | ||
| Himachal Pradesh | 4 | 21,28,828 | 20,53,167 | 41,81,995 | 12,69,539 | 12,11,994 | 24,97,149 | 59.84 | 59.03 | 59.71% | ||
| Jammu & Kashmir | 6 | 34,68,235 | 28,99,880 | 63,68,115 | 13,91,263 | 8,41,489 | 22,41,729 | 40.11 | 29.02 | 35.20% | ||
| Jharkhand | 14 | 89,14,164 | 78,98,175 | 1,68,12,339 | 55,61,056 | 38,01,786 | 93,63,363 | 62.38 | 48.13 | 55.69% | ||
| Karnataka | 28 | 1,96,05,257 | 1,89,86,838 | 3,85,92,095 | 1,31,19,442 | 1,19,62,519 | 2,51,39,122 | 66.92 | 63.00 | 65.14% | ||
| Kerala | 20 | 1,01,68,428 | 1,09,57,045 | 2,11,25,473 | 74,80,351 | 75,67,329 | 1,50,93,960 | 73.56 | 69.06 | 71.45% | ||
| Madhya Pradesh | 29 | 2,00,28,161 | 1,83,61,940 | 3,83,90,101 | 1,13,22,391 | 71,24,280 | 1,84,63,451 | 56.53 | 38.80 | 48.09% | ||
| Maharashtra | 48 | 3,27,88,476 | 3,02,23,732 | 6,30,12,208 | 1,89,57,642 | 1,52,63,748 | 3,42,63,317 | 57.82 | 50.50 | 54.38% | ||
| Manipur | 2 | 7,46,054 | 7,90,456 | 15,36,510 | 5,22,526 | 5,12,834 | 10,35,696 | 70.03 | 64.88 | 67.41% | ||
| Meghalaya | 2 | 6,48,654 | 6,40,720 | 12,89,374 | 3,02,113 | 3,77,125 | 6,79,321 | 46.58 | 58.86 | 52.69% | ||
| Mizoram | 1 | 2,73,454 | 2,76,505 | 5,49,959 | 1,75,372 | 1,70,000 | 3,49,799 | 64.13 | 61.48 | 63.60% | ||
| Nagaland | 1 | 5,47,114 | 4,94,319 | 10,41,433 | 5,05,682 | 4,46,002 | 9,55,690 | 92.43 | 90.23 | 91.77% | ||
| Orissa | 21 | 1,31,91,691 | 1,24,60,298 | 2,56,51,989 | 90,10,592 | 79,29,405 | 1,69,45,092 | 68.30 | 63.64 | 66.06% | ||
| Punjab | 13 | 86,52,294 | 79,63,105 | 1,66,15,399 | 54,37,861 | 47,94,658 | 1,02,33,165 | 62.85 | 60.21 | 61.59% | ||
| Rajasthan | 25 | 1,81,49,028 | 1,65,63,357 | 3,47,12,385 | 1,00,09,085 | 72,90,569 | 1,73,46,549 | 55.15 | 44.02 | 49.97% | ||
| Sikkim | 1 | 1,45,738 | 1,36,199 | 2,81,937 | 1,12,404 | 1,02,890 | 2,19,769 | 77.13 | 75.54 | 77.95% | ||
| Tamil Nadu | 39 | 2,32,69,301 | 2,39,82,970 | 4,72,52,271 | 1,50,06,523 | 1,36,42,797 | 2,87,32,954 | 64.49 | 56.89 | 60.81% | ||
| Tripura | 2 | 10,23,368 | 9,54,854 | 19,78,222 | 7,14,491 | 6,04,452 | 13,27,000 | 69.82 | 63.30 | 67.08% | ||
| Uttar Pradesh | 80 | 6,03,28,608 | 5,02,95,882 | 11,06,34,490 | 3,25,52,479 | 2,07,20,447 | 5,32,78,071 | 53.96 | 41.20 | 48.16% | ||
| Uttarakhand | 5 | 28,38,204 | 27,24,433 | 55,62,637 | 14,70,496 | 11,97,917 | 26,73,832 | 51.81 | 43.97 | 48.16% | ||
| West Bengal | 42 | 2,47,98,089 | 2,26,39,342 | 4,74,37,431 | 1,98,04,552 | 1,70,66,370 | 3,70,21,478 | 79.86 | 75.38 | 78.04% | ||
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands (UT) | 1 | 1,31,502 | 1,10,143 | 2,41,645 | 83,520 | 70,284 | 1,53,841 | 63.51 | 63.81 | 63.66% | ||
| Chandigarh (UT) | 1 | 2,92,438 | 2,53,246 | 5,27,684 | 1,51,932 | 1,17,886 | 2,69,849 | 51.95 | 50.11 | 51.14% | ||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) | 1 | 65,059 | 57,622 | 1,22,681 | 43,795 | 40,904 | 84,703 | 67.32 | 70.99 | 69.04% | ||
| Daman & Diu (UT) | 1 | 39,595 | 39,637 | 79,232 | 29,751 | 55,591 | 25,839 | 65.26 | 75.06 | 70.16% | ||
| Lakshadweep (UT) | 1 | 19,880 | 19,153 | 39,033 | 15,698 | 16,122 | 31,820 | 78.96 | 84.17 | 81.52% | ||
| NCT OF Delhi | 7 | 49,53,925 | 38,09,550 | 87,63,475 | 24,28,289 | 16,97,944 | 41,26,443 | 49.02 | 44.57 | 47.09% | ||
| Puducherry (UT) | 1 | 3,10,658 | 3,26,009 | 6,36,667 | 2,40,114 | 2,44,202 | 4,84,336 | 77.29 | 74.91 | 76.07% | ||
| India | 543 | 34,94,90,864 | 32,19,97,066 | 67,14,87,930 | 21,72,34,104 | 17,27,14,226 | 38,99,48,330 | 62.16 | 53.64 | 58.07% | ||
| Source-ECI https://eci.gov.in/files/file/4126-general-election-2004-vol-i-ii-iii/ | ||||||||||||
| 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] | ||||||||
| Territories | Party | Seats won | % of Votes | Alliance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=left rowspan=5 valign=top | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | Indian National Congress | 1 | 55.77 | United Progressive Alliance |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 0 | 35.95 | National Democratic Alliance | ||
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 0 | 2.71 | Left Front | ||
| Independent | 0 | 1.72 | None | ||
| Others | 0 | 3.85 | None | ||
| align=left rowspan=5 valign=top | Chandigarh | Indian National Congress | 1 | 52.06 | United Progressive Alliance |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 0 | 35.22 | National Democratic Alliance | ||
| Indian National Lok Dal | 0 | 6.61 | None | ||
| Independent | 0 | 3.42 | None | ||
| Others | 0 | 2.69 | None | ||
| align=left rowspan=4 valign=top | National Capital Territory of Delhi | Indian National Congress | 6 | 54.81 | United Progressive Alliance |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 1 | 40.67 | National Democratic Alliance | ||
| Bahujan Samaj Party | 0 | 2.48 | None | ||
| Independent | 0 | 1.27 | None | ||
| align=left rowspan=4 valign=top | Lakshadweep | Janata Dal (United) | 1 | 49.02 | National Democratic Alliance |
| Indian National Congress | 0 | 48.79 | United Progressive Alliance | ||
| Janata Party | 0 | 1.47 | None | ||
| Samajwadi Party | 0 | 0.72 | None |
See main article: 2004 Indian general election analysis. 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.
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.