1998 Indian general election

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20 seats
Turnout	70.66% (0.55%)
First party Second party Third party   Party INC CPI(M) CPI Alliance UDF LDF LDF Last election 7 5 2 Seats won 8 6 2 Seat change 1 1 - Percentage 38.67% 21% 8.32%   Fourth party Fifth party   Party IUML BJP Alliance UDF NDA Last election 2 0 Seats won 2 0 Seat change - - Percentage 5.01% 8.02%
Kerala

The 1998 Indian general election were held to elect 20 members to the twelfth Lok Sabha from Kerala.^[1] Indian National Congress (INC)-led United Democratic Front (UDF) won 11 seats, while the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) won the remaining 9 seats.^[2] The earlier election in 1996 saw both alliances win equal share of seats. Turnout for the election was at 70.66%^[3]

Background

The ruling LDF government in the state faced infightings, especially among V. S. Achuthanandan and CITU as the former was denied the Chief Ministerial post. KSKTU launched agitations against paddy field reclamation, which spiraled into a law and order issue. The state High Court directed the government to return the crop fields to the farmers. M. L. Ahuja cited "an element of militancy" and "disregard for democratic forms of agitations" among the CPI(M) activists during the agitation.

Alliances and parties

^[4]

UDF is a Kerala legislative alliance formed by INC veteran K. Karunakaran. LDF comprises primarily of CPI(M) and the CPI, forming the Left Front in the national level. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leading National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at national level contested in all 20 seats.

United Democratic Front

No.	Party	Election Symbol	Seats Contested
1.	Indian National Congress		17
2.	Indian Union Muslim League		2
3.	Kerala Congress (M)		1

Left Democratic Front

No.	Party	Election Symbol	Seats Contested
1.	Communist Party of India (Marxist)		9
2.	Communist Party of India		4
3.	Revolutionary Socialist Party		1
4.	Independents		3
5.	Janata Dal		2
6.	Kerala Congress		1

National Democratic Alliance

No.	Party	Election Symbol	Seats Contested
1.	Bharatiya Janata Party		20

List of elected MPs

^[5]

Results

Performance of political parties

^[6]

No.	Party	Political Front	Seats	Votes	%Votes	±pp
1	Indian National Congress	UDF	8	57,46,566	38.67%	0.66
2	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	LDF	4	31,21,636	21%	0.16
3	Communist Party of India	LDF	2	12,35,761	8.32%	0.10
4	Bharatiya Janata Party	NDA	0	11,92,046	8.02%	2.41
5	Indian Union Muslim League	UDF	2	7,45,070	5.01%	0.07
6	Janata Dal	LDF	0	5,80,094	3.90%	0.50
7	Revolutionary Socialist Party	LDF	1	3,96,145	2.67%	0.17
8	Kerala Congress (M)	UDF	1	3,56,168	2.40%	0.26
9	Kerala Congress	LDF	0	3,27,649	2.20%	0.03
10	Indian National League	none	0	80,333	0.54%	0.53
11	Peoples Democratic Party	none	0	40,972	0.28%	0.17
12	Bahujan Samaj Party	none	0	19,475	0.1%	0.05
13	Shiv Sena	none	0	3,290	0.02%
14	Janata Party	none	0	1,164	0.01%
15	Nagaland Peoples Party	none	0	1,066	0.01%
16	The Humanist Party Of India	none	0	765	0.01%	new
17	Samata Party	none	0	558	0.00%	0.01
Independents			2	10,13,067	6.82%	0.15

By constituency

^[7]