1996 Indian general election

Campaign

The elections triggered a significant realignment of political forces in Indians, 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(I) declined and smaller, ethnic and regional parties took its place. The Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Lal Krishna Advani 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(I) party attempted to form regional allies as well, most notably with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The so-called "Third Force" during the 1996 elections was the National Front. 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 Communist parties like the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist), Janata Dal and the Telugu Desam Party. It attempted to build a wider coalition 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(I) 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 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 breakaway Congress (T) party, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani, Sharad Yadav (leader of the Janata Dal parliamentary party), and former Congress(I) 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 resignation of L.K. Advani as Member of Parliament, though he continued to lead the election campaigning as the BJP's president.

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. In the backdrop of the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, BJP stressed on the role of Hindutva in its vision for India, creating a more Hindu-orientated state by removing the provisions of secularism and making Hinduism the country's state religion, implementing a nationwide ban on cow slaughter, abolishing personal laws of non-Hindus by introducing a uniform civil code and removing the special status of Kashmir alongside construction of the Ram-mandir as its main agenda. The Congress(I) 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 empowering the state governments. It additionally stressed the economic gains already made by the government due to its liberalization policies post 1992. However it drew flak for promising re-construction of the demolished mosque at the disputed site of Ayodhya in its electoral manifesto, leading the BJP to accuse the Congress (Indira) of indulging in Muslim appeasement and fostering Hinduphobia. The Janata Dal and the National Front campaigned on maintaining a strong public sector though with some commitment to deregulation and anti-corruption measures while committing to implement the Mandal Commission report. It also pushed other more populist measures as well, such as more state-run infrastructure projects, subsidised fertilizer, and increased education investment.

Results

The BJP capitalised on the communal polarisation that followed the demolition of Babri Masjid to win 161 Lok Sabha seats, making it the largest party in parliament. L.K. Advani, whose aggressive campaigning as BJP president is widely credited with these results. The election delivered an unclear mandate and resulted in a hung parliament. Although Congress continued to remain the single largest party in terms of voteshare, it was for the first time since the country's first general elections that the Congress' voteshare fell below 30% on a national scale. The Congress also for the first time in its existence, won fewer than 150 seats in a general election, surpassing the record of 154 seats in the 1977 general elections. Hence the result was considered as the worst result of the Congress party in its 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 alongside the religious polarisation fueled by the BJP under the Ayodhya dispute. Congress(I) was almost wiped out in its traditional strongholds of Uttar Pradesh & Bihar with many stalwarts like Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, Jagannath Mishra, Satyendra Narayan Sinha suffered electoral setbacks inflicted by both Janata Dal & BJP. 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.

Results by state/union territory

Aftermath

Following Westminster custom, President Shankar Dayal Sharma invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee as leader of the BJP to form a government. Sworn in on 15 May, 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 31 May, 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 28 May, 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 (Indira), also declined to form a government. After Janata Dal leader V. P. Singh refused to become prime minister for a second time, CPI(M) leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu was approached by the National Front to be its prime ministerial face, but the party politburo refused to endorse it (a decision which Basu later criticised as a "historic blunder") in order to affirm its commitment towards establishing dictatorship of the proletariat. Basu put forward the name of Janata Dal leader and Karnataka Chief Minister H. D. Deve Gowda as the candidate for the Prime Minister post. Janata Dal and a bloc of smaller parties thus formed the United Front government, with outside support from INC(I). Gowda resigned on 21 April 1997 due to withdrawal of support by the Indian National Congress to pave way for I. K. Gujral, who maintained good relations with the Congress.

However the Fodder Scam resulted in many United Front members demanding the resignation of Lalu Prasad Yadav, an alliance partner and the then Chief Minister of Bihar. Yadav retaliated by breaking away from Janata Dal and forming Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on 3 July 1997. Out of 45 Janata Dal members of parliament, 17 left the party and supported Yadav. However, the new party continued to support the United Front and Gujral's government was saved from immediate danger. Gujral resigned 11 months later when INC withdrew support from the government over Gujral's refusal to expel DMK from the government, whose leader M. Karunanidhi was implicated in assisting Rajiv Gandhi's assassination and the country went back to the polls in 1998.