The interval between the ninth and tenth General Elections was less than two years. This was the first time that the country had two General Elections within such a short period.
The country also saw two governments at the Centre in quick succession within that period, the one formed by the Janata Dal under the leadership of V.P. Singh and its successor formed by the Samajwadi Janata Dal headed by Chandra Sekhar.
The latter was a break- away group consisting of members of the Janata Dal who left the Party and formed a new Party of their own. They were supported from outside by the Congress Party of Rajiv Gandhi, thus enabling them to secure a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha.
But this rather opportunistic arrangement did not last long. The Congress Party withdrew its support after a few months necessitating the resignation of the Chandra Sekhar Ministry and the consequent dissolution of the Lok Sabha and the tenth General Elections.
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The tragic part of the tenth General Elections was the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi half way through the electoral process. The 1984 Elections were held soon after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The 1991 Elections saw Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination before the completion of the last stage of the elections.
If Indira Gandhi’s assassination influenced the results of the elections in 1984, the tragic end of Rajiv Gandhi had its influence on the results of the elections in 1991. The trend of the voting showed that the Congress Party did much better after Rajiv Gandhi’s death than when he was alive.
As a result, the performance of the Party in 1991 was much better than its performance in 1989. Even so, it was not able to secure an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. Its tally was 231 and with the support of its allies with 19 seats, it could claim a total strength of 250.
The Janata Dal which was the number two party in the dissolved House lost its position to Bharatiya Janata Party which improved its position to 121. Janata Dal secured only a total of 59 seats. The CPI (M) won 33 seats while the CPI won only 12 seats. The Samajwadi Janata Party could win only 5 seats. The AIADMK, an ally of the Congress (I) won 11 seats. The Telugu Desam Party won 12 seats.
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One of the most unwholesome aspects of the tenth General Elections was the widespread violence, rigging, booth-capturing and other forms of electoral offences that tarnished the fair face of Parliamentary democracy in India. The extent of electoral malpractices was such that the Election Commission of India had to countermand elections in many constituencies and order re-polls in thousands of booths.