As exit polls had indicated, PM AtalBihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party and its National Democratic Alliance won a comfortable majority in India's parliamentary elections.
Three Indian ministers had the courage to resign from Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee's government in protest against a steep hike in the prices of petroleum products which has hit the poorer sections of society very badly.
Even at the height of its popularity in 1999, under former Prime Minister AtalBihariVajpayee, the party managed to scrabble together only 182 seats 90 short of a simple majority and garnered just about a quarter of the national vote.