Indian general election, 1977

Indian general election, 1977

1971 ← 16–20 March 1977 → 1980

All 542 seats in the Lok Sabha 272 seats were needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Morarji Desai Indira Gandhi Party Janata Party INC Alliance Janata alliance INC+ Leader's seat Surat Rae Bareli (lost) Seats won 345 189 Seat change 233 217 Percentage 51.89% 40.98% Swing 27.55% 2.7%

Prime Minister before election Indira Gandhi INC(I) Subsequent Prime Minister Morarji Desai Janata Party

Indira Gandhi
INC(I)

Morarji Desai
Janata Party

In a major turn of events, the ruling Congress lost control of India for the first time in independent India in the Indian general election, 1977. The hastily formed, Janata alliance of parties opposed to the ruling Congress party, won 298 seats. Morarji Desai was chosen as the leader of the alliance in the newly formed parliament and thus became India's first non-Congress Prime Minister on 24 March. The Congress lost nearly 200 seats. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her powerful son Sanjay Gandhi both lost their seats.

The election came after the end of The Emergency that Prime Minister Gandhi had imposed in 1975; it effectively suspended democracy, suppressed the opposition, and took control of the media with authoritarian measures. The opposition called for a restoration of democracy and Indians saw the election results as a repudiation of the Emergency.

India held general elections to the 6th Lok Sabha. This sixth general elections, which were conducted for 542 seats from 542 constituencies, represented 27 Indian states and union territories. These 542 constituencies remained same until Indian general elections, 2004 for the 14th Lok Sabha.

The Emergency declared by the Indira Gandhi led Congress government was the core issue in the 1977 elections. Civil liberties were suspended during the national emergency from 25 June 1975 to 21 March 1977 and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assumed vast powers.

Gandhi had become extremely unpopular for her decision and paid for it during the elections. Mrs. Gandhi, on 23 January, called for fresh elections and released all political prisoners. Four Opposition parties, the Congress (Organisation), the Jan Sangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Socialist Party, decided to fight the elections under a single banner called the Janata alliance. The alliance used the symbol allocated to Bhartiya Lok dal as their symbol on the ballot papers.

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