13-month-old AB Vajpayee govt fell by only one vote

Jaipur: General elections were held in the country in three phases between February 16 and 28 1998 for the twelfth Lok Sabha. BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) just before the elections, which included Shiv Sena, Samata Party, SAD, Biju Janata Dal, Jayalalitha’s AIADMK etc. The NDA alliance had got a total of 252 seats. Of these, 182 were from BJP. Congress and its allies had to be content with 165 seats. After gathering the majority, President KR Narayanan invited Atal Bihari Vajpayee, leader of a coalition of 41 parties, to form the govt and on March 19, 1998, Vajpayee again took oath as PM. But the unlucky number 13 did not leave Vajpayee. After his first govt fell in just 13 days, this time his govt fell in 13 months, that too by just one vote.

Within a year, Jayalalitha started putting forward many demands, including dropping cases against her, which were not acceptable to Vajpayee. When Vajpayee did not bow down, Jayalalitha left NDA and her 6 MPs withdrew support from govt. After that Vajpayee again faced the challenge of proving majority. Vajpayee, confident of majority, accepted this challenge. During the trust vote, NC MP Saifuddin Soz crossvoted against his party. Another dispute occurred. Congress’s Girdhar Gomang had become CM but had not resigned as MP. Speaker Balayogi left decision of voting to the discretion of Gomang who voted against Vajpayee govt. Also, Speaker Balayogi did not cast his own vote. Thus, on April 17, 1999, the Vajpayee govt lost by only one vote.