Today is the 4th phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Incidentally, the date (May 13) has a huge significance in the annals of India's political history. It was on this day in 2004 that the most shocking election result in the history of independent India came out. The General Elections were held in India in four phases between April 20 and May 10. The counting day was May 13. Vajpayee was expected to return to power come what may. Every exit poll predicted the victory of NDA.
However, in a shocking outcome, the BJP won seven seats less than the Congress under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. The Left parties swept West Bengal and Kerala. They lent support to the UPA and Manmohan Singh was eventually made the PM candidate.
"On 13 May, the BJP conceded defeat. The Congress, which had governed India for all but five years from independence until 1996, returned to power after a record eight years out of office," says the Wikipedia page about the saddest day in the history of the BJP.
In 2009, the UPA secured its second term comfortably. The BJP won just 116 seats under the leadership of LK Advani. At that time, Op-Ed writers and political commentators used to opine that the BJP was on its death bed. Many Congress leaders used to trumpet that the BJP would be trounced in the 2011 Assembly elections, hastening the party's death. However, the UPA government itself became hugely unpopular due to high inflation and unprecedented scams.
The BJP was out of power for 10 years (from 2004 to 2014). It was under Narendra Modi's leadership that the party once again romped home to power.
