Indian general election, 2009
In the parliamentary elections in India in 2009, the House was for the total Indian Parliament, the Lok Sabha elected. The elections were not in a single day, but over five election dates, 16, 22-23. and 30 April, and on 7 and 13 May 2009 instead. This was primarily organizational reasons. All election results were announced, however, until 16 May 2009. Were eligible to vote 713.8 million people. India sees itself as the " world's largest democracy " and the elections as the largest democratic election decision of the world have thus been seen.
As the winner of the election was the United Progressive Alliance ( UPA ), an alliance of parties led by the Indian National Congress forth, which won 262 of the 543 seats ( 48.3 %). Particularly unexpected was the good performance of the UPA in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. The of the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP ) -led National Democratic Alliance ( NDA) came to 159 seats ( 29.3 %). It was also surprising the relatively poor performance of the merged in the electoral alliance of the Third Front Left parties (79 seats, 14.5 %). The global turnout was 59.7 % ( 450.8 million voters ) and among the elected members are 60 women ( 11.0 %). Thus, the previous government has been able to significantly expand under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh their previous parliamentary backing. In a first short speech after the election, Prime Minister Singh thanked the voters for the confidence they had placed in the Congress Party. He promised a socially acting government ("a caring government" ) and a policy of sustainable and equitable economic development ( " sustained and equitable development" ). The government would continue to protect the secular social order and enter for a society without hatred. In particular, the last comment was a clear rejection of Hindu- nationalist and radical Muslim ( to a lesser extent ) ideas, but also to class-struggle slogans as they had been represented by part of the opposition parties.
- 4.1 Results by party alliances
- 4.2 Results for individual parties
- 4.3 Results by States and Union Territories
Election law and election mode
The election took place in 543 individual constituencies using the simple majority voting. Since the majority situation in most constituencies were not clearly have formed before the elections alliances and alliances across various parties that have agreed among themselves on common candidates for individual constituencies. The votes were cast in total 828 804 individual polling stations on electronic voting machines. The voters were able to choose not only names, but also image and symbol of their candidates by pressing a button. So it should be ensured for a rapid evaluation of the voting results, on the other hand it should be guaranteed that also can choose the more than 100 million illiterate people in the country correctly. Overall the election and the counting of votes proceeded remarkably smoothly.
Lal Krishna Advani - leading candidate of the NDA
Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India ( Marxist), one of the prominent politicians of the Third Front
Amar Singh, general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, one of the parties of the Fourth Front
Parties and alliances
The elections were marked by four large party alliances. Since the majority voting applies in the constituencies in the Indian elections constituency candidates agreements are common.
United Progressive Alliance ( UPA)
The United Progressive Alliance is a party alliance led by the Indian National Congress. The UPA was founded after the parliamentary elections in 2004 and included in the current election the following parties: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( a south Indian regional party in Tamil Nadu ), the Nationalist Congress Party ( predominantly in Maharashtra ), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ( Jharkhand, All India Trinamool Congress ( an offshoot of the Congress Party in West Bengal ), Jammu & Kashmir National Conference ( a regional party in Jammu and Kashmir ), and several smaller regional parties. , the Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD ), the UPA alliance, however, had left and the so-called Forth leading candidate for the premiership was the incumbent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson of the front connected. was Sonia Gandhi, the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi 's widow.
National Democratic Alliance ( NDA)
The National Democratic Alliance ( NDA ) is an alliance of parties led by the Hindu- nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP ). The most important after the BJP parties Shiv Sena ( a regional party from Maharashtra ) and Janata Dal, which in the states of Bihar and Karnataka has its priorities, Rashtriya Lok Dal in Uttar Pradesh, as well as Shiromani Akali Dal, a Sikh party from Punjab. Before the election, some former allies were swerved and changed to other camps, as All India Trinamool Congress in the camp of the UPA and Biju Janata Dal and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the camp of the Third Front. Top candidate of the NDA was the 81 -year-old Lal Krishna Advani of the BJP.
Third front
The Third Front formed a heterogeneous coalition of parties of the left spectrum, which occurred against both the Congress -led government and against the BJP -led opposition. This includes the parties of the Left Front ( " Left Front "). It was an alliance of more than 10 different political parties, which cover the political spectrum left. These include, in addition to the Bahujan Samaj Party (mainly in Uttar Pradesh ), the representative of the still disadvantaged in many ways lower castes, the Communist parties of India ( Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India ( Marxist) ), which in its political priorities West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura have Biju Janata Dal in Orissa and.
Fourth front
The Fourth Front formed a merger of some parties who are not members of the above-mentioned covenants. These included the Rashtriya Janata Dal party ( RJD ) and Lok Janshakti Party ( LJP ), both with an emphasis in Orissa, had been part of the UPA - party alliance. Added to this was primarily based in Uttar Pradesh Samajwadi Party (SP ), which had earlier also at least supported the UPA alliance from outside.
Through the top Returning Officer, the Chief Election Commissioner of India N. Gopalaswami the next election dates were set on 2 March 2009:
Results
Results by party alliances
Results by individual parties
The following table lists only parties who have received at least 100,000 votes.
Results by states and union territories
The respective election winner ( relative or absolute majority ) are in bold (Source: Indian Election Commission ).
Development immediately after the election
After the election sparked the State President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, with effect from 18 May 2009, the Lok Sabha on. On May 19, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi as party leader (party leader) and were re-elected chairman ( chairperson ) of the parliamentary faction of the Indian National Congress. On May 20, the President Manmohan Singh responsible for the new government. The parties of the Congress Party -led United Progressive Alliance had just short of an absolute majority in the election. To prevent a possible government of the BJP, some third parties who are not members of the UPA, they will support the government in the next five -year legislative period. These parties were Janata Dal ( Secular ) (3 seats), Rashtriya Janata Dal (4 seats), Bahujan Samaj Party, the ( 21 seats ) and the Samajwadi Party (23 seats). Two parties ( Janata Dal ( Secular ) - 3 mandates, before Third Front, Rashtriya Lok Dal - 5 seats, earlier National Democratic Alliance) announced their change into Government and we were given ministerial posts in the future government awarded. Because of differences in the distribution of future ministerial posts Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the party declared (DMK, 18 mandates) on May 21, their withdrawal from the United Progressive Alliance. She wanted to help the government out of the UPA, however, continue. Further negotiations led however to an agreement with the Congress Party and on 25 May 2009, the DMK decided officially participate in the government. The composition of the new government (Cabinet Minister Manmohan Singh II) was announced on May 31, 2009.