Manmohan Singh's Defeat in Lok Sabha - 1999

If anybody wants to criticize democracy, the first example that they give is defeat of Dr.Manmohan Singh in 1999. I would like to give my analysis on that.

Manmohan Singh participated in direct elections only once. That was in 1999 from South Delhi. He lost to Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP). To understand, why Manmohan Singh lost that election, we have to analyze few things.

Vajpayee lost by one vote

Vajpayee became Prime Minister in 1998, and since he became PM, he started facing problems with Jayalalitha. After 13 months, Jayalalitha withdrew the support, and Vajpayee lost the vote of confidence by single vote. Even then also, the lost was unfair. I am not counting Saifuddin Soz, who voted against Vajpayee, by declining his party's whip. These days, many MPs are not following their parties whip. The unfair vote was from Orissa Chief Minister. Orissa CM Giridhar Gamang (Congress) did not resign from Loksabha eventhough he had been in CM position for few months. He voted against Vajpayee government. Had he not voted in that, both sides would have got equal votes, and Speaker would have supported the government (Because speaker was from TDP, which was supporting Vajpayee government). But, because of this invalid vote, he lost it.

In that 13 months, Vajpayee has done many good things including Nuclear Tests. He was not given full chance to serve the country. Now, the elections are held because of that one vote, and thanks to Jayalalitha, Congress, and Giridhar Gamang.

As a voter, whom should we vote? BJP's PM candidate was Vajpayee, and he is trying to do good service to India. The only other alternative was Congress, and it did not declare it's PM Candidate. There was also sympathy that, he lost the vote of confidence by unfair method. If somebody wants to see the Vajpayee as the PM, they have to defeat Manmohan Singh. If they want Manmohan Singh as the MP, then Vajpayee may get less majority, and may not become PM. If people in South Delhi wanted to see Vajpayee as the PM, then there is no other option other than defeating Manmohan Singh.

South Delhi - BJP's Fort

BJP was formed in 1980, and it's first participation in Loksabha was in 1984. In 1984, due to the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Congress had won in 411 seats. Because of the sympathy, all other parties lost badly at all places. BJP won only two seats in the entire country. As expected, it lost in South Delhi as well, and the contestant was Vijay Kumar Malhotra only. After that, Madan Lal Khurana (Ex-CM of Delhi) revived the party, and he worked tirelessly for Delhi. For his contribution, he got the title 'Dilli Ka Sher' (Lion of Delhi). Because of his efforts in Delhi, BJP never lost in South Delhi after 1984, and It became like a fort for BJP. From 1989 to 1998, there were four Loksabha elections, and one time BJP got a majority of 12%, and all other times, it got more than 20%. 20% majority is not a small majority. Nobody who wants to become an MP will contest from South Delhi from some other party. All politicians knew this. If a party is consistently winning from a place with a very good majority, they will put a good candidate, but they will not put someone who must become an MP. i.e., No Prime Minister Candidate will contest from Constituency like South Delhi from some other party. Manmohan Singh was asked to contest from South Delhi. What does it mean? I clearly understand that, Congress is not desperate to make him as an MP. But, they want to put some good candidate in South Delhi. So, they had chosen Manmohan Singh. If he had contested from a place where Congress is strong, or atleast other parties are not very strong, he would have won. But, Congress had chosen BJP's fort deliberately, and that's why Manmohan Singh lost. Even then Manmohan Singh lost by only 6%, which is much better than previous Congress contestants.