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1989 Indian general election

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Field	Value
country	India
type	parliamentary
previous_election	1984 Indian general election
previous_year	1984
next_election	1991 Indian general election
next_year	1991
election_date	22 and 26 November 1989
seats_for_election	529 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha
majority_seats	265
turnout	61.95% ( 2.06pp)
registered	498,906,129
image1
leader1	Rajiv Gandhi
party1	Indian National Congress (Indira)
last_election1	46.86%, 414 seats
seats1	197
seat_change1	217
popular_vote1	118,894,702
percentage1	39.53%
swing1	7.33pp
image2
leader2	V. P. Singh
party2	Janata Dal
last_election2	13.50%, 14 seats
seats2	143
seat_change2	129
popular_vote2	53,518,521
percentage2	17.79%
swing2	4.29pp
image4
leader4	Lal Krishna Advani
party4	Bharatiya Janata Party
last_election4	7.74%, 2 seats
seats4	85
seat_change4	83
popular_vote4	34,171,477
percentage4	11.36%
swing4	3.62pp
image5
leader5	E. M. S. Namboodiripad
party5	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
last_election5	5.87%, 22 seats
seats5	33
seat_change5	11
popular_vote5	19,691,309
percentage5	6.55%
swing5	0.68pp
title	Prime Minister
posttitle	Prime Minister after election
before_election	Rajiv Gandhi
before_party	Indian National Congress (Indira)
after_election	V. P. Singh
after_party	JD
map_image	Wahlergebnisse Indien 1989.svg
map_caption	Results by constituency
outgoing_members	List of members of the 8th Lok Sabha
elected_members	List of members of the 9th Lok Sabha

General elections were held in India on 22 and 26 November 1989 to elect the members of the ninth Lok Sabha. The incumbent Indian National Congress (Indira) government under the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi lost its mandate, even though it was still the largest single party in the Lok Sabha. V. P. Singh, the leader of the second largest party Janata Dal (which also headed the National Front) was invited by the President of India to form the government. The government was formed with outside support from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist parties led by CPI(M). V. P. Singh was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of India on 2 December 1989.

Background

The 1989 elections were held after the Lok Sabha elected in 1984 completed its five-year term. Although Rajiv Gandhi had won the 1984 elections by an unprecedented landslide (mainly due to an overwhelming outpour of popular grief for to his mother's assassination), by 1989 he was trying to fight off scandals that had marred his administration.

The Bofors scandal, Gandhi's supposed attempt at shielding Adil Shahryar, who had been involved in the 1984 Bhopal tragedy, allegations of Muslim appeasement in the wake of the Shah Bano case, rising insurgency in Assam, insurrection in Punjab, Indian involvement in the Sri Lankan civil war were just some of the problems that stared at his government. Rajiv's biggest critic was Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who held the portfolios of the finance ministry and the defence ministry in the government.

But Singh was soon sacked from the Cabinet and he then resigned from his memberships in the Congress and the Lok Sabha. He formed the Jana Morcha with Arun Nehru and Arif Mohammad Khan and re-entered the Lok Sabha as an Independent MP from Allahabad. Witnessing V. P. Singh's meteoric rise on national stage, Rajiv tried to counter him with another prominent Rajput stalwart Satyendra Narain Singh but failed eventually.

On 11 October 1988, the birth anniversary of Jayprakasha Narayan, V. P Singh made Jana Morcha merge with the Janata Party & some of its breakaway factions like the Janata Party (Secular), Lok Dal & Congress (Jagjivan) to form the Janata Dal. Singh then formed the National Front consisting of the Janata Dal, Congress (Socialist) of Sarat Chandra Sinha, TDP of N. T. Rama Rao, DMK of M. Karunanidhi & AGP of Prafulla Mahanta. The National Front also received outside support of Lal Krishna Advani from the Bharatiya Janata Party (which had also been formed out of the Janata Party) & Jyoti Basu from the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

To remove the allegations of Muslim appeasement against the Congress (I) party, Rajiv Gandhi took the step of unlocking the gates of the disputed Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1986, which inadvertently caused increased public consciousness about the dispute over the site. The BJP was able to galvanize significant support from the country's Hindu majority towards itself by its electoral promise of constructing a Hindu temple at the site after tearing down the mosque.

Voting was not held in Assam due to rising unrest and a rebellion of Bodos, culminating into a massacre of 535 people at Gohpur. The Union territory of Goa, Daman and Diu was split into Goa and Daman & Diu with Goa retaining its two seats and the latter gaining a seat, resulting in the total number of Lok Sabha seats increasing by one to a total of 543. As elections were not held in Assam, only 529 seats were contested.

Results

State Wise Results

State/Union Territory	Seats	INC	JD	BJP	LFT	OTH	Andhra Pradesh	42	Arunachal Pradesh
Indian National Congress}}"		Janata Dal}}"		Bharatiya Janata Party}}"		Left Front}}"		Other}}"
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	39	0	0	0	3
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	2	0	0	0	0
4	Janata Dal}}; color:white;"	32	8	5	5
1	0	0	0	1
3	11	Bharatiya Janata Party}}; color:white;"	12	0	0
4	Janata Dal}}; color:white;"	6	0	0	0
1	0	Bharatiya Janata Party}}; color:white;"	3	0	0
2	0	0	0	Other}}; color:black;"	4
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	27	1	0	0	0
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	14	0	0	2	4
8	4	Bharatiya Janata Party}}; color:white;"	27	0	1
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	28	5	10	1	4
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	2	0	0	0	0
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	2	0	0	0	0
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	1	0	0	0	0
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	1	0	0	0	0
3	Janata Dal}}; color:white;"	16	0	0	2
2	1	0	0	Other}}; color:black;"	10
0	11	Bharatiya Janata Party}}; color:white;"	13	1	0
0	0	0	0	Other}}; color:black;"	1
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	27	0	0	1	11
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	2	0	0	0	0
15	Janata Dal}}; color:white;"	54	8	3	5
4	0	0	Left Front}}; color:white;"	37	1
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	1	0	0	0	0
0	Janata Dal}}; color:white;"	1	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	Other}}; color:black;"	1
0	0	0	0	Other}}; color:black;"	1
2	1	Bharatiya Janata Party}}; color:white;"	4	0	0
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	1	0	0	0	0
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	1	0	0	0	0
Indian National Congress}}; color:white;"	197	Janata Dal}}; color:white;"	143	Bharatiya Janata Party}}; color:white;"	85	Left Front}}; color:white;"	52	Other}}; color:black;"	52

Aftermath

V. P. Singh, who was the head of the Janata Dal, was chosen leader of the National Front government with outside support of the BJP & CPI(M). The alliance broke down after Singh supported Bihar's Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's step to arrest Advani in Samastipur to stop his Ram Rath Yatra, which was going to the Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya on 23 October 1990. Following this incident, BJP withdrew their support to Singh government, causing them to lose parliamentary vote of confidence on 7 November 1990.

Chandra Shekhar broke away from the Janata Dal with 64 MPs and formed the Samajwadi Janata Party in 1990. He got outside support from the Congress(I) and became the 8th Prime Minister of India. He finally resigned on 21 June 1991, after the Congress(I) withdrew its support alleging that the Chandra Shekhar government was spying on Rajiv Gandhi.

References

Bibliography

References

"INDIA: Parliamentary elections Lok Sabha, 1989".
Sumeda. (2024-04-06). "How the 1989 Lok Sabha election changed Indian politics". The Hindu.
Philip, A. J.. (7 September 2006). "Opinion: A gentleman among politicians". The Tribune (Chandigarh).
Staff, T. N. M.. (2024-01-03). "How Rajiv Gandhi fell for bad advice to open Babri Masjid locks in 1986".
(8 November 1990). "India's Cabinet Falls as Premier Loses Confidence Vote, by 142–346, and Quits". The New York Times.

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