2004 Indian general election

General elections were held in India in four phases between 20 April and 10 May 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha. Seven states also held assembly elections to elect state governments. They were the first elections fully carried out with electronic voting machines (EVMs).

On 13 May the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the lead party of the National Democratic Alliance conceded a shocking mysterious defeat. The Indian National Congress, which had governed India for all but five years from independence until 1996, returned to power after a record six years out of office. It was unable to put a majority alone in 2004. It formed UPA, which had together a comfortable majority of more than 335 members out of 543 with the help of its allies. The 335 members included both the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, the governing coalition formed after the election and external support from the Left Front, who threatened to withdraw their support during Nuclear Deal.

After facing criticism from her own party and entire country, Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister and instead asked former Finance Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was a respected economist and loyal to Sonia Gandhi, to head the new government. Sonia Gandhi participated sometimes in running the government. Singh had previously served in the Congress government of Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao in the early 1990s, when he was seen as one of the architects of India's first economic liberalisation plan, which staved off an impending monetary crisis. Despite the fact that Singh had never won a Lok Sabha seat, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha of Parliament. His considerable goodwill and Sonia Gandhi's nomination won him the support of UPA allies and the Left Front. Dr. Manmohan Singh became the first Sikh prime minister of India.