1996 Indian General Election
The 13-day government27 April, 2 May and 7 May 1996 · Mandal, Mandir and the coalition era · 543 seats, 272 for a majority
The elections resulted in a hung parliament with no single party having a majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which had won the most seats despite finishing second in the popular vote, formed a short-lived government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Prime Minister before
P. V. Narasimha Rao
INC
Prime Minister after
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
BJP
Largest force
Bharatiya Janata Party
161 of 543 seats
Turnout
57.9%
The result
| Share of the Lok Sabha | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 187 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 161 | — | 6,79,50,851 | 20.3% | +0.2 | |
| Indian National Congress | 143 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | 140 | — | 9,64,55,493 | 28.8% | -7.5 | |
| Janata Dal | UF | H. D. Deve Gowda | 46 | — | 2,70,70,340 | 8.1% | -3.8 | |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | UF | Harkishan Singh Surjeet | 32 | — | 2,04,96,810 | 6.1% | -0.0 | |
| Tamil Maanila Congress | — | — | 20 | — | 73,39,982 | 2.2% | — | |
| Samajwadi Party | — | — | 17 | — | 1,09,89,241 | 3.3% | — | |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | — | — | 17 | — | 71,51,381 | 2.1% | — | |
| Telugu Desam Party | — | — | 16 | — | 99,31,826 | 3.0% | — |
94 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.