After the BJP made history by way of emerging as the most important birthday celebration in Lok Sabha, Atal Bihari Vajpayee have become Prime Minister. But his government lasted most effective 13 days, and changed into observed with the aid of a coalition of 13 events. Read more in part 11 of our collection on the records of India’s Lok Sabha elections.
From winning a record mandate in 1984 to struggling humiliation 5 years later, from clawing again in a coalition in 1991 to sinking to its worst Lok Sabha overall performance until then — the Nineteen Eighties and 90s were a political rollercoaster for the Congress.
The election of 1996 became historic also because it introduced the BJP to energy for the primary time, albeit for most effective thirteen days. What accompanied changed into a third attempt at constructing a coalition government on the Centre after 1977 and 1989 — the ones experiments had lasted until 1979 and 1991 respectively; the 1996 edition could disintegrate in 1998.
BJP makes records
The 11th Lok Sabha election became held between April 27 and May 7, 1996. Of the 59.25 crore eligible electorate, fifty seven.94% or 34.33 crore voted at greater than 7.Sixty seven lakh polling stations. A overall thirteen,952 candidates ran for 543 seats; the longest list of contestants — 480 — was at Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh, a seat that become gained by means of the CPI’s Bommagani Dharma Bixam.
The Congress’s tally of one hundred forty became its lowest considering that Independence — 14 fewer than within the Janata wave of 1977. Twenty- of these seats have been received in P V Narasimha Rao’s Andhra Pradesh.
With 161 seats, the BJP became the biggest birthday party in Lok Sabha. It received fifty two of the 85 seats in undivided Uttar Pradesh, and 27 out of 40 seats in undivided Madhya Pradesh.
The Janata Dal won 46 seats, CPI(M) 32, DMK and Samajwadi Party 17 each, CPI 12, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 11.
Rao, the outgoing Prime Minister, received in Nandyal, AP, and Berhampur, Odisha, and retained the latter seat. Kanshi Ram (BSP) gained in Hoshiarpur, Chandra Shekhar (Samata Party) in Ballia, Maneka Gandhi (Janata Dal) in Pilibhit, and Vijaya Raje Scindia and her daughter Vasundhara Raje (each BJP) in Guna and Jhalawar respectively.
Mulayam Singh Yadav, who might be Chief Minister of UP in a touch extra than 3 years, entered Lok Sabha for the primary time. The former bandit Phoolan Devi became the SP MP from Mirzapur.
Vajpayee’s 13-day govt
After President Shankar Dayal Sharma invited the BJP to form the authorities, Atal Bihari Vajpayee changed into administered the oath of office on May 16, 1996.
The Babri Masjid were demolished by using kar sevaks most effective 3 and a 1/2 years earlier, and the BJP became the political untouchable of the time. Its only allies have been Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and Parkash Singh Badal’s Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.
On May 27, Vajpayee tabled the Motion of Confidence in Lok Sabha. After two days of discussion, it turned into clear the movement might no longer pass. The Prime Minister instructed the House that he bowed to the numerical energy of his opponents however he would no longer rest until the larger national objective were done.
“I am going to the President to post my resignation,” he said, and left the House.
An anti-BJP 13-celebration United Front had already been fashioned by way of then. N Chandrababu Naidu, who had turn out to be Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh after leading a party riot in opposition to his father-in-law N T Rama Rao in 1995, became its convener. Once Vajpayee resigned, H D Deve Gowda, who become Chief Minister of Karnataka at the time, took oath as Prime Minister on June 1. He changed into not a Member of Parliament then, and became elected to Rajya Sabha in September.
Several stalwarts who had fought the Congress and BJP in their states were given ministries in Deve Gowda’s government. Mulayam became Defence Minister, P Chidambaram, who had formed the Tamil Maanila Congress in conjunction with G K Moopanar in advance that 12 months, have become Finance Minister, and CPI’s Indrajit Gupta and Chaturanan Mishra have become Home Minister and Agriculture Minister respectively.
Murasoli Maran (DMK) changed into given the Industry portfolio, and I K Gujral, Ram Vilas Paswan, and S R Bommai of the Janata Dal were given External Affairs, Railways, and Human Resource Development respectively.
However, the United Front did now not have a majority in Lok Sabha. To live to tell the tale, Deve Gowda’s authorities found itself depending on the outdoor assist of the Congress.
The Congress become led at the time by Sitaram Kesri, an vintage loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi circle of relatives who had been treasurer of the birthday party due to the fact 1979. After Narasimha Rao misplaced the Lok Sabha election and was pressured to surrender the party management that September, Kesri emerged as the only candidate suited to all camps within the celebration.
Gujral’s short tenure
On March 30, 1997, 10 months after Deve Gowda become sworn in, the Congress withdrew help to the authorities. The Prime Minister changed into pressured to move a motion of self assurance, which turned into rejected 292-158 on April eleven.
Kesri said he changed into inclined to support another United Front authorities below a new leader. Among the front runners were Mulayam and Moopanar, but it was the moderate-mannered Gujral who unexpectedly emerged as the choice of the coalition. The CPI(M)’s Harkishan Singh Surjeet later discovered to The Indian Express in an interview that Mulayam have been reduce out of the race by way of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Sharad Yadav who refused to simply accept him as Prime Minister.
Gujral took oath on April 21, 1997, and determined to hold with Deve Gowda’s cabinet. But he too, would not remaining within the post.
In November 1997, more than six years after Rajiv Gandhi was killed, the document of the Justice Milap Chand Jain Commission, set up to investigate the assassination, changed into leaked. The findings, which had been subsequently tabled in Parliament, raised questions about the position of the DMK, a constituent party of the United Front — and passed the Congress a fresh motive to strain the authorities.
It demanded the removal of DMK individuals from the authorities. When Gujral refused, Kesari pulled the plug on November 28, 1997. Gujral resigned, and Lok Sabha turned into dissolved.