1971 Indian general election
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All 518 seats in the Lok Sabha 260 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 Congress 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 (Ruling) faction, which was recognized by the Electoral 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 dmeocracy and outlawed political opposition. After democracy was restored in 1977, the opposition Congress faction formed a coalition of parties called the Janata Party, which would go on to inflict the Congress' first electoral defeat.
Results
Results by alliance
Template:Indian general elections results by alliance 1971
Results by Party
See also
- State Assembly elections in India, 1971
- Election Commission of India
- Indian presidential election, 1969
References
- ^ http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/INDIA_1971_E.PDF
- ^ "General Election of India 1971, 5th Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 6. Retrieved 2010-01-13.