India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. The results of the election were announced on 16 May 2009. India’s elections are considered the largest democratic election in the world.
Strong showing in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan helped the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) form the new government under incumbent prime minister Manmohan Singh, who became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to win re-election after completing a full five-year term. The Congress and its allies was able to put together a comfortable majority with support from 322 members out of 543 members of the House. Though this is less than the 335 seats the UPA held in the last election, the fact that UPA alone got over 260 seats this time, means that this government appears to be more stable than the previous one. The tally of 322 seats included those of the UPA and the external support from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other minor parties.
Reference and Results:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_general_election,_2009
Tags: election 2009, India, South_Asia