Indian general election, 1971

Indian general election, 1971

1–10 March 1971[1]

All 518 seats in the Lok Sabha 260 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Indira Gandhi Morarji Desai Party INC (R) NCO Alliance INC (R) NDF Leader's seat Rae Bareli Surat Seats won 352 51 Seat change 73 65 Percentage 43.68% 24.34% Swing 2.9% New

Prime Minister before election Indira Gandhi INC Subsequent Prime Minister Indira Gandhi INC (R)

India held general elections to the 5th Lok Sabha in March 1971. This was the fifth election since independence in 1947. The 27 Indian states and union territories were represented by 518 constituencies, each with a single seat.^[2] Under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the Indian National Congress (R) led a campaign which focussed on reducing poverty and won a landslide victory, overcoming a split in the party and regaining many of the seats lost in the previous election.

During her previous term, there had been internal divisions in the Indian National Congress between Indira Gandhi and the party establishment, especially Morarji Desai. In 1969, she was expelled from the party, causing a split. Most of the Congress MPs and grassroots support joined Gandhi's Indian National Congress (R) faction, which was recognised by the Election Commission as being the successor to the previous party. 31 MPs who opposed Gandhi became the Indian National Congress (Organization) party. Despite the split, the Ruling faction gained votes and seats to win a strong majority, whereas the Organization faction lost half of their seats.

On 12 June 1975, the Allahabad High Court invalidated the result in Gandhi's constituency on the grounds of electoral malpractices. Instead of resigning, Indira Gandhi called a state of emergency, suspending democracy and outlawed political opposition. After democracy was restored in 1977, the opposition Congress faction formed a coalition of parties called the Janata Party, which inflicted the Congress' first electoral defeat.

Results

Results by alliance

 Summary of the 1971 March Lok Sabha election results of India
Sources:

Alliances	Party	Seats won	Change	Popular Votes %
Indian National Congress (R) Seats: 350 Seat Change: +93 Popular Vote %: 43.68	Indian National Congress (R)	352	+93	43.68
National Democratic Front (Alliance) Seats: 51 Seat Change: -65 Popular Vote %: 24.34	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	16	−17	10.43
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	22	-22	7.37
	Swatantra Party	8	-15	3.07
	Samyukta Socialist Party	3	-10	2.43
	Praja Socialist Party	2	-17	1.04
Left Parties Seats: 48 Popular Vote %: 9.86	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	25	-6	5.13
	Communist Party of India	23	—	4.73
Others Seats: 66 Popular Vote %: 22.14	Others	67	-12	22.16

Results by Party

Lok Sabha elections 1971 Electoral participation: 55,27%		%	Won (total 545)
Bharatiya Jana Sangh	BJS	7.35	22
Communist Party of India	CPI	4.37	23
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	CPI(M)	5.12	25
Indian National Congress (R)	INC(R)	43.68	352
Indian National Congress (Organization)	INC(O)	10.43	16
Praja Socialist Party	PSP	1.04	2
Samyukta Socialist Party	SSP	2.43	3
Swatantra Party	SP	3.07	8
All Party Hill Leaders Conference	APHLC	0.06	1
All India Forward Bloc	AIFB	0.66	2
Bangla Congress	BC	0.35	1
Bharatiya Kranti Dal	BKD	2.18	1
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	DMK	3.84	23
Indian Union Muslim League	IUML	0.28	2
Jana Congress	JC	0.04	0
Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party	JP	0.09	0
Kerala Congress	KC	0.37	3
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	MGP	0.04	0
Naga Nationalist Organisation	NNO	0.04	0
Peasants and Workers Party of India	PWPI	0.51	0
Revolutionary Socialist Party	RSP	0.49	3
Shiromani Akali Dal	SAD	0.87	1
United Front of Nagaland	UFN	0.06	1
United Goans (Sequiera Group)	UG(S)	0.04	1
Vishal Haryana	VH	0.24	1
Jharkhand Party	JP	0.19	1
Republican Party of India	RPI	0.1	1
Telangana Praja Samithi	TPS	1.28	10
Utkal Congress	UC	0.72	1
Independents	-	8.38	14
Nominated Anglo-Indians	-	-	2

See also

• State Assembly elections in India, 1971
• Election Commission of India
• Indian presidential election, 1969

References

1. http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/INDIA_1971_E.PDF
2. "General Election of India 1971, 5th Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 6. Retrieved 13 January 2010.