2004 Indian General Election
The India Shining upset20 April 26 April, 5 and 10 May 2004 · The UPA decade · 543 seats, 272 for a majority
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.
Prime Minister before
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
BJP
Prime Minister after
Manmohan Singh
INC
Largest force
Indian National Congress
145 of 543 seats
Turnout
58.1%
The result
| Share of the Lok Sabha | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian National Congress | 218 | Sonia Gandhi | 145 | — | 10,34,08,949 | 26.5% | -1.8 | |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 181 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 138 | — | 8,63,71,561 | 22.2% | -1.6 | |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 60 | Harkishan Singh Surjeet | 43 | — | 2,20,70,614 | 5.7% | +0.3 | |
| Samajwadi Party | — | — | 36 | — | 1,68,24,072 | 4.3% | — | |
| Rashtriya Janata Dal | — | — | 24 | — | 93,84,147 | 2.4% | — | |
| Bahujan Samaj Party | — | — | 19 | — | 2,07,65,229 | 5.3% | — | |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | — | — | 16 | — | 70,64,393 | 1.8% | — | |
| Shiv Sena | — | — | 12 | — | 70,56,255 | 1.8% | — |
110 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.