The Vajpayee government falls — by exactly one vote

The Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government, formed in March 1998, depended on the support of regional allies with their own grievances. J. Jayalalithaa's AIADMK withdrew its backing in early 1999 amid a falling-out with the BJP, forcing a confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.

The vote, held on 17 April 1999, went against the government by a single vote: 270 to 269. A handful of individual MPs crossed their party's declared position in the final count, and the closeness of the result — rather than any single defection — became the story: one more vote either way would have changed the outcome entirely.

The government's fall triggered fresh Lok Sabha elections later that year. Vajpayee's NDA returned with a considerably larger and more stable coalition after the October 1999 election, and he served a full term as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004.