1971 Indian general election

← 1967 1–10 March 1971[1] 1977 →
518 of the 521 seats in the Lok Sabha 260 seats needed for a majority
Registered	274,189,132
Turnout	55.27% ( 5.77pp)
First party Second party   Leader Indira Gandhi Puchalapalli Sundarayya Party INC(R) CPI(M) Last election 40.78%, 283 seats 4.28%, 12 seats Seats won 352 25 Seat change 69 6 Popular vote 64,033,274 7,510,089 Percentage 43.68% 5.12% Swing 2.90pp 0.84pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee K. Kamaraj Party ABJS INC(O) Last election 9.31%, 35 seats – Seats won 22 16 Seat change 13 New Popular vote 10,777,119 15,285,851 Percentage 7.35% 10.43% Swing 1.96 pp New
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Indira Gandhi INC(R) Prime Minister after election Indira Gandhi INC(R)

General elections were held in India between 1 and 10 March 1971 to elect members of the fifth Lok Sabha. They were the fifth general elections 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 focused 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.^[3]

Background

Congress party split

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 (Requisitionists) faction, which was recognised by the Election Commission as being the successor to the previous party. 31 MPs who opposed Gandhi formed Indian National Congress (Organisation) party.

Minority government

The Second Indira Gandhi government, formed in November 1969 and dissolved in March 1971, was the first minority government in independent India. After the split, the INC(R) held 221 seats in the 523-seat parliament, 41 seats short of a majority. However, Gandhi and her cabinet remained in power by relying on outside support from left-wing parties like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (26 seats), the Communist Party of India and it's recently formed breakaway faction, the CPI(Marxist) (who together had 42 seats), giving the government a total of 289 seats, a comfortable majority and far more than the minimum of 262 seats required for a majority. Knowing that her minority government would eventually fall, on 27 December 1970, President V.V. Giri dissolved the Lok Sabha at the recommendation of Gandhi.

Opposition alliance

INC(O) formed a pre-poll alliance with Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP), Praja Socialist Party (PSP), the Swatantra Party and Bharatiya Jana Sangh BJS and several other regional parties opposed to the INC(R). They agreed to field one candidate against the INC(R) candidate in every constituency in order to defeat Gandhi's party.

Results

Despite the split, the ruling faction gained votes and seats to win a strong majority, while the Grand Alliance was badly trounced and lost more than half of their seats.

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress (R)	64,033,274	43.68	352	+69
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	15,285,851	10.43	16	New
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	10,777,119	7.35	22	–13
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	7,510,089	5.12	25	+6
	Communist Party of India	6,933,627	4.73	23	0
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,622,758	3.84	23	–2
	Swatantra Party	4,497,988	3.07	8	–36
	Samyukta Socialist Party	3,555,639	2.43	3	–20
	Bharatiya Kranti Dal	3,189,821	2.18	1	New
	Telangana Praja Samithi	1,873,589	1.28	10	New
	Praja Socialist Party	1,526,076	1.04	2	–11
	Shiromani Akali Dal	1,279,873	0.87	1	New
	Utkal Congress	1,053,176	0.72	1	New
	All India Forward Bloc	962,971	0.66	2	0
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	741,535	0.51	0	–2
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	724,001	0.49	3	New
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	542,662	0.37	0	New
	Kerala Congress	542,431	0.37	3	+3
	Bangla Congress	518,781	0.35	1	–4
	Indian Union Muslim League	416,545	0.28	2	0
	Vishal Haryana Party	352,514	0.24	1	New
	All India Jharkhand Party	272,563	0.19	1	New
	Shiv Sena	227,468	0.16	0	New
	Shoshit Dal Bihar	193,389	0.13	0	New
	Socialist Unity Centre of India	157,703	0.11	0	New
	Republican Party of India	153,794	0.10	1	0
	Janta Party	139,091	0.09	0	New
	All Party Hill Leaders Conference	90,772	0.06	1	0
	United Front of Nagaland	89,514	0.06	1	New
	Hindu Mahasabha	73,191	0.05	0	New
	Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League	72,131	0.05	0	New
	Bihar Prant Hul Jharkhand	66,669	0.05	0	New
	Hindustani Shoshit Dal	65,925	0.04	0	New
	Revolutionary Communist Party of India	65,622	0.04	0	New
	Lok Sewak Sangh	62,527	0.04	0	New
	Jana Congress	60,103	0.04	0	0
	Nagaland Nationalist Organisation	58,511	0.04	0	–1
	United Goans – Seqveria Group	58,401	0.04	1	0
	Socialist Party	55,064	0.04	0	New
	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	54,597	0.04	0	New
	Proutist Bloc of India	43,849	0.03	0	New
	Telangana Congress	43,548	0.03	0	New
	Minorities Labour Party	41,198	0.03	0	New
	Indian Socialist Party	38,713	0.03	0	New
	Muslim Majlis Uttar Pradesh	36,526	0.02	0	New
	Lok Raj Party Himachal Pradesh	34,070	0.02	0	New
	Uttar Pradesh Kisan Mazdoor Party	31,729	0.02	0	New
	Manipur Peoples Party	31,029	0.02	0	New
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	24,093	0.02	0	New
	Republican Party of India (Ambedkarite)	22,428	0.02	0	New
	Backward Classes Mahasabha	6,929	0.00	0	New
	Revolutionary Socialist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)	6,198	0.00	0	New
	Chota Nagpur Bhumi Rakshak Party	4,982	0.00	0	New
	Independents	12,279,629	8.38	14	–21
Appointed members[a]				3	0
Total		146,602,276	100.00	521	–2
Valid votes		146,602,276	96.74
Invalid/blank votes		4,934,526	3.26
Total votes		151,536,802	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		274,189,132	55.27
Source: ECI

Results by state

State wise Detailed

Aftermath

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.