1991_Indian_general_election

1991 Indian general election

1991 Indian general election

General election in India

General elections were held in India on 20 May, 12 June and 15 June 1991 to elect the members of the 10th Lok Sabha, although they were delayed until 19 February 1992 in Punjab.

Quick Facts 534 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha 268 seats needed for a majority, Registered ...

No party could muster a majority in the Lok Sabha, resulting in the Indian National Congress (Indira) forming a minority government under new Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao with the support of other parties.The government survived 28 July 1993 no confidence vote in controversial circumstances by engineering defections from the Janata Dal and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.[2][3]

Elections were not held for the six seats allocated to Jammu and Kashmir, nor for two seats in Bihar and one in Uttar Pradesh. Voter turnout was 57%, the lowest to date in an Indian general election.[4]

Background

The 1991 elections were held as the previous Lok Sabha, with Chandra Sekhar at its helm had been dissolved just 16 months after government formation. Over 500 million eligible voters were once again given the chance to elect their government.[5] The elections were held in a polarised environment and are also referred to as the 'Mandal-Mandir' elections after the two most important poll issues, the Mandal Commission fallout and the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue.

Mandal-Mandir Issue

While the Mandal Commission report implemented by the VP Singh government gave 27 per cent reservation to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in government jobs, it led to widespread violence and protests across the country from the Scheduled Castes, with many students in and around Delhi even setting themselves on fire. Mandir represented the hallmark of this election, where there was a debate over the disputed Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya, which the Bharatiya Janata Party was using as its major election manifesto.

The Mandir issue led to numerous riots in many parts of the country and the electorate was polarised on caste and religious lines. With the National Front falling apart, the Congress(I) managed to make the most of the polarisation, by getting the most seats and forming a minority government.[6]

Rajiv Gandhi Assassination

Main article: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

A day after the first round of polling took place on 20 May, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while campaigning for Margatham Chandrasekar in Sriperembudur. The remaining election days were postponed until mid-June and voting finally took place on 12 and 15 June.

Since the assassination took place after first phase of polling in 211 of 534 constituencies and the balance constituencies went to polls after the assassination, the 1991 results varied greatly between phases.[7] Congress (I) was almost wiped out in the first phase, and rode a massive sympathy wave to sweep the second phase.[5] The end result was a Congress(I)-led minority government supported by the Janata Dal led by P. V. Narasimha Rao, who had previously announced his retirement from politics. While Rao had not contested in the election, he contested in a by-election in Nandyal which he won by a record five lakh votes.

Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab

76 to 126 people were shot dead during campaign on 17 June 1991 in two attacks by gunmen in Punjab, an area racked by separatist violence. Police reports said the killings, on separate trains, were carried out by Sikh militants.[8] No elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab, a total of 19 Lok Sabha seats.[9] Elections were held in Punjab on 19 February 1992,[10] where INC won 12 out of 13 seats,[11] thereby taking their tally in the Lok Sabha up from 232 to 244.

Results

More information Party, Votes ...

Delayed elections in Punjab

More information Party, Votes ...

Aftermath

Congress(I) was in a position to form government. The persons, mentioned in media, as probable Prime Minister, were:[12]

The Congress(I) eventually formed the government under the Prime Ministership of P. V. Narasimha Rao, who secured the outside support of the Janata Dal under controversial circumstances. After Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rao was the second Congress Prime Minister from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family and the first Congress Prime Minister to head a minority government that completed full 5-year term.[14]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "1991 India General (10th Lok Sabha) Elections Results". www.elections.in. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  2. [2]
    "Narashima Rao becomes butt of 'suitcase' and 'crore' jokes among Congressmen, Opposition". India Today. 15 August 1993. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  3. [3]
    "JMM MP turns approver in bribery case against Rao". www.rediff.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
  4. [4]
    "India: parliamentary elections Lok Sabha, 1991". archive.ipu.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  5. [5]
    "INKredible India: The story of 1991 Lok Sabha election - All you need to know". Zee News. 8 April 2019. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  6. [6]
    "History Revisited: How political parties fared in 1991 Lok Sabha election". Zee News. 6 April 2019. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  7. [7]
    The congress party did poorly in the pre-assassination constituencies and swept the post-assassination constituencies
  8. [8]
    Crossette, Barbara (17 June 1991). "Party of Gandhi Narrowly Ahead in India Election". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  9. [9]
    "Once Upon a Poll: Tenth Lok Sabha Elections (1991)". The Indian Express. 21 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  10. [10]
    Vinayak, Ramesh (3 September 2013) [February 29, 1992]. "With militant scare and Akali boycott, Punjab elections may be a damp squib". India Today. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  11. [11]
    "1992 India General Elections Results". www.elections.in. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  12. [12]
    "Rao, Pawar in race for CPP-I leadership". The Indian Express. Madras. 18 June 1991. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  13. [13]
    "A meeting of hearts". The Indian Express. Madras. 15 June 1991. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  14. [14]
    "How Shukla saved Rao govt in 1992". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
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