2004 General Election

The Lok Sabha term was to end in October 2004, but the government decided on early polls; the Lok Sabha was dissolved in February itself and the country went to polls in April–May 2004. Perhaps the BJP thought that the government had done exceptionally well and took the slogan ‘India Shining’ seriously and misread the feelings on the ground. Perhaps it was encouraged by the party’s recent successes in state assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chattisgarh. Even newspapers and magazines misread the situation, and predicted that the NDA would win without difficulty. But the NDA was defeated. It is possible that the BJP lost the support of a section of the population because its campaign stressed economic issues rather than the controversial and ideological questions.

The Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, emerged as the single largest party.