<P> Manmohan Singh INC </P> <P> Narendra Modi BJP </P> <P> The Indian general election of 2014 was held to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha, electing members of parliament for all 543 parliamentary constituencies of India . Running in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014, it was the longest election in the country's history . According to the Election Commission of India, 814.5 million people were eligible to vote, with an increase of 100 million voters since the last general election in 2009, making it the largest - ever election in the world . Around 23.1 million or 2.7% of the total eligible voters were aged 18--19 years . A total of 8,251 candidates contested for the 543 Lok Sabha seats . The average election turnout over all nine phases was around 66.38%, the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections . </P> <P> The results were declared on 16 May 2014, fifteen days before the 15th Lok Sabha completed its constitutional mandate on 31 May 2014 . The counting exercise was held at 989 counting centres . The National Democratic Alliance won a sweeping victory, taking 336 seats . The BJP won only 31.0% votes, which is the lowest share for a party to form a majority government in India since independence, while NDA's combined vote share was 38.5% . BJP and its allies won the right to form the largest majority government since the 1984 general election, and it was the first time since that election that a party has won enough seats to govern without the support of other parties . The United Progressive Alliance, led by the Indian National Congress, won 59 seats, 44 (8.1%) of which were won by the Congress, that won 19.3% of all votes . It was the Congress party's worst defeat in a general election . In order to become the official opposition party in India, a party must gain 10% of the seats (54 seats) in the Lok Sabha; however, the Indian National Congress was unable to attain this number . Due to this fact, India remains without an official opposition party . </P>

How many seats in lok sabha election 2014