| Country: | India |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1996 Indian general election |
| Previous Year: | 1996 |
| Next Election: | 1999 Indian general election |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
| Election Date: | 16, 22 and 28 February 1998 |
| Registered: | 605,880,192 |
| Turnout: | 61.97% (4.03pp) |
| Seats For Election: | 543 of the 545 seats in the Lok Sabha |
| Majority Seats: | 272 |
| Leader1: | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Party1: | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Last Election1: | 20.29%, 161 seats |
| Seats1: | 182 |
| Seat Change1: | 21 |
| Percentage1: | 25.59% |
| Popular Vote1: | 94,266,188 |
| Swing1: | 5.30pp |
| Leader2: | Sitaram Kesri |
| Party2: | Indian National Congress |
| Last Election2: | 28.80%, 140 seats |
| Seats2: | 141 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Percentage2: | 25.82% |
| Popular Vote2: | 95,111,131 |
| Swing2: | 2.98pp |
| Leader3: | Harkishan Singh Surjeet |
| Party3: | Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
| Last Election3: | 6.12%, 32 seats |
| Seats3: | 32 |
| Popular Vote3: | 18,991,867 |
| Percentage3: | 5.16% |
| Swing3: | 0.96pp |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Prime Minister after election |
| Before Election: | Inder Kumar Gujral |
| Before Party: | JD |
| After Election: | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| After Party: | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Outgoing Members: | List of members of the 11th Lok Sabha |
| Elected Members: | List of members of the 12th Lok Sabha |
| Alliance1: | National Democratic Alliance |
| Alliance2: | INC+ |
| Alliance3: | Left Front (West Bengal) |
General elections were held in India on 16, 22 and 28 February 1998 to elect the members of the twelfth Lok Sabha. The elections were held three years ahead of schedule after the government led by Inder Kumar Gujral collapsed when the Indian National Congress (INC) withdrew its support in November 1997.[1]
The result was another hung parliament, with no party or alliance able to muster a majority. However, Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata Party was able to form a coalition government led by the National Democratic Alliance with the outside support of the Telugu Desam Party. He was sworn in as Prime Minister with support from 272 of 543 MPs. However, his government collapsed on 17 April 1999 when the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam withdrew its support, after Vajpayee refused to meet the demands of its leader J. Jayalalithaa, namely halting the corruption cases against her and the sacking of the Tamil Nadu government led by her bete-noire M. Karunanidhi.[2] This led to fresh elections in 1999.[3]
The 1998 general election was the second consecutive election in which the party that received the most votes did not win the most seats.