Manmohan Singh re-elected as PM after 1st successful term

Jaipur: The 15th Lok Sabha elections in the country were held in 2009. In this election, the UPA alliance made a spectacular comeback and formed the government, which was called UPA 2. The loan waiver given just before the elections and the formation of the Third Front did not allow the main opposition party BJP to fulfill its plans of returning to power. Congress had gained 61 seats as compared to 2004. After this election, Congress made Manmohan Singh the Prime Minister again after completing his first successful term. After Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Manmohan Singh became the first leader who became Prime Minister for the second consecutive time after completing a tenure of 5 years. In this election, NDA had fielded BJP leader LK Advani as PM face, but Advani remained as PM in waiting. These polls were held in a total of 5 phases between April 16, 2009 and May 13, 2009. This was the first election after the delimitation of LS constituencies according to the 2001 census. Out of 543 LS constituencies, new delimitation of 499 seats was done.

In 2009 general elections, the Congress-led UPA secured 262 seats, with Congress alone winning 206. The BJP-led NDA garnered 159 seats, with BJP securing 116. Congress’s vote percentage was 28.55%, BJP’s 18.80%. Congress performed well in states like UP, WB, Kerala, TN, and Rajasthan. Sachin Pilot became the youngest MP at 26, and 45 women became MPs.