1998 elections in India

1998 elections in India comprised multiple key polls, most notably the 1998 Indian general election held on 16–28 February 1998, to elect the members of the 12th Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. These elections were held prematurely after the collapse of Prime Minister I. K. Gujral’s United Front government, as the Indian National Congress withdrew its support in November 1997. Voter turnout was approximately 61.97%, with 543 contested seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, emerged as the largest party with 182 seats, forming the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), though it initially fell short of a majority and had to secure outside support from the Telugu Desam Party. Vajpayee was sworn in as Prime Minister, but the government lasted only until April 1999 when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) withdrew support.

1998 Indian elections

← 1996          1997          1998          1999          2000 →
Incumbent Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee (NDA)
Next Lok Sabha	12th
Rajya Sabha elections
Overall control	Bharatiya Janata Party
Seats contested	TBD
Net seat change	TBD
Lok Sabha elections
Seats contested	543
State elections
States contested	9
Net state change	TBD

Simultaneously, several state assembly and Rajya Sabha elections took place, including polls in states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Tripura, reflecting significant local political shifts. For instance, in Gujarat, BJP won 19 of 26 seats, while Tamil Nadu saw a sweeping victory for NDA led by AIADMK, capturing 30 of 39 seats . In Kerala, the United Democratic Front marginally outperformed the Left Democratic Front, winning 11 out of 20 seats. Meanwhile, the 1998 Rajya Sabha elections held across several states added new upper house members.

These elections resulted in the short-lived 12th Lok Sabha, active from 23 March 1998 to 26 April 1999, characterized by coalition fragility and frequent government realignments.

Parliamentary Election Result

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

Overall Result

Polling Date(s)	State	Government before		Chief Minister before	Government after		Elected Chief Minister	Maps
16 February 1998	Tripura		Communist Party of India (Marxist)	Dasarath Deb		Communist Party of India (Marxist)	Manik Sarkar
	Meghalaya		Indian National Congress	S. C. Marak		Indian National Congress	S. C. Marak
23 February 1998	Nagaland		Indian National Congress	S. C. Jamir		Indian National Congress	S. C. Jamir
	Gujarat		Bharatiya Janata Party	Dilip Parikh		Bharatiya Janata Party	Keshubhai Patel
28 February 1998	Himachal Pradesh		Indian National Congress	Virbhadra Singh		Bharatiya Janata Party	Prem Kumar Dhumal
25 November 1998	Delhi		Bharatiya Janata Party	Sushma Swaraj		Indian National Congress	Sheila Dikshit
	Mizoram		Indian National Congress	Lal Thanhawla		Mizo National Front	Zoramthanga
	Rajasthan		Bharatiya Janata Party	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat		Indian National Congress	Ashok Gehlot
27 November 1998	Madhya Pradesh		Indian National Congress	Digvijaya Singh		Indian National Congress	Digvijaya Singh

Legislative Assembly elections

Delhi

Main article: 1998 Delhi Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	1,952,071	47.75	52	+38
	Bharatiya Janata Party	1,390,689	34.02	15	–34
	Janata Dal	73,385	1.80	1	–3
	Others	316,346	7.74	0	0
	Independents	355,773	8.70	2	–1
Total		4,088,264	100.00	70	0
Valid votes		4,088,264	99.11
Invalid/blank votes		36,722	0.89
Total votes		4,124,986	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		8,420,141	48.99
Source: ECI[1]

Gujarat

Main article: 1998 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
	Bharatiya Janata Party	7,300,826	44.88	-4	117
	Indian National Congress	5,677,386	34.90	+8	53
	AIRJP	1,902,171	11.69		4
	Janata Dal	429,283	2.64		4
	Independent	854,142	5.25		3
	SP	64,913	0.40		1
	Bahujan Samaj Party	12,742	0.08	0	0
	CPI	10,292	0.06	0	0
	SAP	7,512	0.05		–
	Republican Party of India	4,642	0.03		–
	Shiv Sena	2,800	0.02		–
	RJD	1,884	0.01		–
Total		16,268,593	100.00	–	182
Valid votes		16,268,593	95.53
Invalid/blank votes		761,449	4.47
Total votes		17,030,042	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		28,774,443	59.18
Source: ECI[2]

Himachal Pradesh

Main article: 1998 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,110,055	43.51	31
	Bharatiya Janata Party	995,482	39.02	31
	Himachal Vikas Congress	245,584	9.63	–
	Independents and Others	200,248	7.85	1
Total		2,551,369	100.00	63
Source: [3]

Madhya Pradesh

Main article: 1998 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

Source:^[4]

SN	Party	Seats Contested	Seats won	Seats Changed	% Votes
1	Indian National Congress	316	172	-2	40.59
2	Bharatiya Janata Party	320	119	+2	39.28
3	Bahujan Samaj Party	221	11	0	6.15
4	Janata Dal	144	4	+ 3	1.87
5	Samajwadi Party	228	4	+ 4	1.58
6	Gondvana Gantantra Party	81	1	0	0.82
7	Ajeya Bharat Party	78	1	+ 1	0.55
8	Janata Party	14	1	+ 1	0.20
9	Republican Party of India	20	1	+ 1	0.13
10	Independent	320	8	- 1	6.49
	Total		320

Meghalaya

Main article: 1998 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election

← Summary of the 16 February 1998 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election results →

Parties and coalitions		Popular vote			Seats
		Votes	%	±pp	Won	+/−
	Indian National Congress (INC)	293,346	35.03	0.41	25	1
	United Democratic Party (UDP)[a]	226,026	26.99	6.48	20	1
	People's Democratic Movement (PDM)	58,225	6.95		3
	Hill State People's Democratic Party	56,682	6.77		3
	Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	41,924	5.01	1.33	3	3
	Garo National Council (GNC)	17,650	2.11		1
	Hindu Samaj Party (HSP)	4,754	0.57		0
	Communist Party of India (CPI)	1,387	0.17	0.03	0
	Rashtriya Janata Dal	1,253	0.15		0
	Samajwadi Party	742	0.09		0
	Janata Dal	38	0.0		0
	Independents (IND)	135,356	17.28	1.12	5	5
Total		837,383	100.00		60	±0
Source: Election Commission of India[5]

^a The UDP was formed in 1997 through a merger of the Hill People's Union (HPU), some members of the Hill State People's Democratic Party (HDP) and the Public Demands Implementation Convention (PDIC). Previous results presented in the table are the combined totals of parties' results from the 1993 election.

Mizoram

Main article: 1998 Mizoram Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Mizo National Front	84,444	24.99	21	7
	Mizoram People's Conference	69,078	20.44	12	New
	Indian National Congress	100,608	29.77	6	10
	Bharatiya Janata Party	8,448	2.50	0	0
	Janata Dal	947	0.28	0	New
	Samata Party	940	0.28	0	New
	Lok Shakti	774	0.23	0	New
	Rashtriya Janata Dal	588	0.17	0	New
	Maraland Democratic Front	7,721	2.28	0	New
	Mizo National Front (Nationalist)	31,190	9.23	0	New
	Independents	33,200	9.82	1	9
Total		337,938	100.00	40	0
Valid votes		337,938	99.44
Invalid/blank votes		1,913	0.56
Total votes		339,851	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		445,366	76.31
Source: ECI[6]

Nagaland

Main article: 1998 Nagaland Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	103,206	50.73	53	+18
	Independents	100,226	49.27	7	0
Total		203,432	100.00	60	0
Valid votes		203,432	98.86
Invalid/blank votes		2,356	1.14
Total votes		205,788	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		260,646	78.95
Source: ECI[7]

Rajasthan

Main article: 1998 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election

Party		Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	153	77
	Bharatiya Janata Party	33	62
	Janata Dal	3	3
	Bahujan Samaj Party	2	2
	Rashtriya Janata Dal	1	New
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	1	0
	Independents	7	14
Total		200	+1

Tripura

Main article: 1998 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

Source:^[8]

Performance of the political parties in this election

Party	Seats Contested	Seats Won	No. of Votes	% of Votes	1993 Seats
Bharatiya Janata Party	60	0	80,272	5.87%	0
Communist Party of India	2	1	18,802	1.38%	0
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	55	38	621,804	45.49%	44
Indian National Congress	45	13	464,171	33.96%	10
Janata Dal	3	0	3,294	0.24%	1
Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti	10	4	98,271	7.19%	1
Revolutionary Socialist Party	2	2	22,526	1.65%	2
Independents	60	2	44,940	3.29%	1
Total	270	60	1,366,966

Legislative By-elections

Jammu and Kashmir

• Winner, runner-up, voter turnout, and victory margin in every constituency^[9]

Assembly Constituency		Turnout	Winner					Runner Up					Margin
#k	Names	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%
1	Jammu West	33.56%	Ashok Kumar Khajuria		BJP	13,164	54.61%	Ved Kumar		INC	6,967	28.9%	6,197

Rajya Sabha

Main article: 1998 Indian Rajya Sabha elections