General election in India in 1984
The parliamentary elections in India in 1984 took place on December 24, 27 and 28, 1984. A total of 514 members were elected for the Lok Sabha , the all- Indian parliament. In the states of Assam and Punjab as well as in Mizoram (at that time still a union territory ) no elections could be held due to the local political situation. An election in Assam and Punjab did not take place until the following year. The Congress Party with the new Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi won the election convincingly and achieved a 3/4 majority of the parliamentary seats in the Lok Sabha.
prehistory
Riots in Assam and Punjab
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The previous election in 1980 was won by the Congress Party under Indira Gandhi . In the period that followed, two domestic problems escalated under the Indira's government. For one thing, the state of Assam did not calm down. There, at the end of the 1970s, ethnic unrest broke out between native Assamese and mountain peoples on the one hand and immigrant, mostly Muslim Bengali from Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal . The Assamese feared that the strong immigration from Bengal would make them a minority in their own country. On the other hand, one felt economically neglected by the central government in Delhi. An ethnic-nationalist mass movement (" Assam Movement ") emerged which tried to achieve its goals with boycotts and actions of civil disobedience. Individual radical groups such as the United Liberation Front of Asom (UFLA), founded in 1979, wanted to create economic and political chaos with terrorist attacks and thus force Assam's independence. The Indian government responded with massive military and police action. The ongoing unrest results in hundreds of civilian deaths without the situation calming down permanently.
On the other hand, in the Indian part of the Punjab religious-nationalist movements of the Sikhs had grown stronger. The roots of this movement were diverse. In the beginning it was a struggle for the recognition of the Punjabi language against Hindi and for the recognition of Sikhism as an independent religion, as well as a striving for greater regional self-government. Radical factions split off later and their demands went as far as the establishment of an independent Sikh state of Khalistan . Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale became a politico-religious leader of the more radical faction . He initiated mass rallies on which z. For example, a fairer distribution of water resources in Punjab and a reintegration of the city of Chandigarh (Union Territory) into Punjab were called for. At the instigation of Indira Gandhi, who saw the movement as a threat to the unity of India, the unrest was suppressed by police force, resulting in numerous deaths. As a result, the violence escalated and the supporters of Bhindranwalde increasingly armed themselves and sought refuge in the central Sikh sanctuary, the Golden Temple of Amritsar . The temple was besieged by the Indian army and finally stormed on June 3-8, 1984 as part of the so-called Operation Blue Star . Bhindranwale, many of his followers and many uninvolved Sikh pilgrims (around 1,000 people in total), as well as 157 Indian soldiers, were killed. The temple itself was badly damaged by artillery fire and then rebuilt at the expense of the Indian government. The action left a deep impression on many Sikhs, created bitterness and in the following years repeatedly led to terrorist acts by militant Sikhs.
Against this background, on October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was murdered in Delhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Security concerns had been raised against the two, but Indira had expressly refused to remove them from their surroundings. When the violent death of the Prime Minister became known, there were uncontrolled outbreaks of violence across the country. Angry Hindu mobs hunted down Sikhs who were easily identified by their distinctive costume . The local security forces were also involved in individual cases. Individual Congress Party politicians were later accused of fueling the violence. The death toll from these pogrom-like acts of violence, which lasted for four days from November 1 to 5, 1984, was several thousand nationwide. 2,733 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone.
Rajiv Gandhi
The death of Indira Gandhi took the leadership of the Congress party completely by surprise. There were no concrete plans for her succession. In the 1980 election, Indira's son Sanjay Gandhi was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha. He had already been an advisor to his mother in the past and, without holding an official political office, had influenced her politics as a kind of gray eminence . It was therefore generally expected that Indira would make him her successor. However, Sanjay was killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting on June 23, 1980. Thereupon the other son of Indira, Rajiv Gandhi, was persuaded to run in the by-election for the now vacant parliamentary seat of his brother in the constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh . He won the election. However, it had become public that Rajiv had reluctantly entered politics, since he was completely absorbed in his profession as a pilot. On the other hand, this also turned out to be an advantage for him, as he was still viewed by politicians as "unused" and not corrupted.
When Indira's death was certain, Rajiv was pressured by leading Congress Party politicians to succeed her. He accepted and was appointed Prime Minister by President Giani Zail Singh on October 31, 1984 . Rajiv was aware that he did not yet have any real democratic legitimation for this office, and at his instigation the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and the call for new elections for December were announced.
Election campaign
The election dates were announced on November 13, and the election campaign began a day later. The congress party was able to benefit from a sympathy bonus. While Indira Gandhi was not only revered but also feared as the mother of the country during her lifetime, Indian society was shaken by her violent death. In addition, with Rajiv Gandhi, the congress party was able to bring a young leader who still appears fresh into the field. Rajiv Gandhi promised a new beginning and, as a newcomer, was also able to distance himself from previous excesses of Congress party politics. The opposition was split up and was unable to form a common electoral alliance, either on the left or on the right.
The Janata Party was led by Chandra Shekhar , while Charan Singh, 82 , led the Lok Dal . New on the political stage were the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) founded in 1980 , the most prominent exponent of which was Atal Bihari Vajpayee , and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founded in 1982 under NT Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh, South India . The TDP had already won the elections to the parliament of Andhra Pradesh, which until then had been completely dominated by the Congress party, the year after its founding. NT Rama Rao then became Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh . The BJP was founded as a spin-off from the Janata Party. Its forerunners lay in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh , which was founded in 1951 and was absorbed into the Janata Party in 1977. The BJP ran candidates in most of the Indian states.
Election mode
Like all previous elections, the election took place according to the relative majority voting system in individual constituencies. In the 13 constituencies of Punjab and the 14 constituencies of Assam as well as in Mizoram there was no election, so that only 514 instead of 542 members were elected. The constituency boundaries were set in 1976 by the Delimitation Commission of India based on the 1971 census. A total of 5,301 candidates from 46 registered parties ran. Due to the wintry weather, the election had to be postponed in some Himalayan constituencies.
| State or Union Territory |
electoral legitimate |
Voters | electoral participation |
Invalid votes |
Number of polling stations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 33,546,487 | 23.136.116 | 68.97% | 2.28% | 43,063 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 319.049 | 240,762 | 75.46% | 5.90% | 1,153 |
| Bihar | 43.341.090 | 25,484,520 | 58.80% | 1.83% | 56,552 |
| Goa , Daman and Diu | 586,656 | 421.257 | 71.81% | 3.01% | 797 |
| Gujarat | 18,843,760 | 10,916,331 | 57.93% | 3.10% | 23,125 |
| Haryana | 7,725,946 | 5,163,799 | 66.84% | 1.75% | 9,577 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 2,314,024 | 1,422,000 | 61.45% | 1.91% | 4.129 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 3.400.010 | 2,258,113 | 66.41% | 3.10% | 5,349 |
| Karnataka | 21,102,484 | 13,857,272 | 65.67% | 2.53% | 30,149 |
| Kerala | 14.276.072 | 11,011,029 | 77.13% | 1.07% | 15,407 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 28,143,638 | 16.190.117 | 57.53% | 3.71% | 33,928 |
| Maharashtra | 36,359,537 | 22,451,250 | 61.75% | 2.78% | 43,649 |
| Manipur | 1,014,071 | 869.614 | 85.75% | 3.27% | 1,486 |
| Meghalaya | 751.283 | 409.212 | 54.47% | 2.41% | 1,218 |
| Mizoram | 255.676 | - | - | - | 770 |
| Nagaland | 594.062 | 394.820 | 66.46% | 1.61% | 1,116 |
| Orissa | 14,943,456 | 8,407,165 | 56.26% | 2.86% | 19,720 |
| Rajasthan | 20.117.285 | 11,465,051 | 56.99% | 2.41% | 25,967 |
| Sikkim | 149.256 | 86.024 | 57.64% | 3.93% | 225 |
| Tamil Nadu | 30,958,080 | 22,591,943 | 72.98% | 4.33% | 39,559 |
| Tripura | 1,208,967 | 934.814 | 77.32% | 1.78% | 1,668 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 62.335.043 | 34,788,786 | 55.81% | 2.03% | 74,744 |
| West Bengal | 32,955,643 | 25,907,790 | 78.61% | 1.99% | 40,977 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 115,565 | 91.093 | 78.82% | 2.33% | 257 |
| Chandigarh | 229.291 | 158.050 | 68.93% | 1.21% | 278 |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 54,066 | 40,331 | 74.60% | 4.84% | 67 |
| Delhi | 3,496,781 | 2,254,869 | 64.48% | 1.37% | 4,066 |
| Lakshadweep | 21,964 | 19,105 | 86.98% | 0.43% | 27 |
| Pondicherry | 381,366 | 275,654 | 72.28% | 1.77% | 489 |
| total | 379.540.608 | 241.246.887 | 63.56% | 2.51% | 479,512 |
- ^ The Indian Electoral Commission does not list any results for Mizoram for the 1984 election. An election probably did not take place there.
Results
Overall result
Nationwide, the Congress Party achieved 49.1% of the vote and 404 of 514 constituency seats (78.6%), the best result in its entire party history. The election victory was downright overwhelming for the other parties. Only in six federal states did other parties still play a significant role: in West Bengal and Tripura (here the communist parties dominated), in Jammu and Kashmir (here the National Conference won three of the six mandates), in Tamil Nadu (here the two Tamil parties won DMK and AIADMK 14 of the 39 mandates), in Kerala (here other parties got seven of the 20 mandates) and in Andhra Pradesh (here the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) dominated). The main opposition parties in the last election, the Janata Party and the Lok Dal, have been reduced to small splinter parties. The Indian National Congress (Urs) , which had received 5.3% of the vote in the last election and had since been renamed the Indian Congress (Socialist) , received only 1.52% of the vote and 4 seats. The two newly founded opposition parties, the TDP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), achieved remarkable results: the TDP became the strongest opposition party in the Lok Sabha with 30 constituency mandates and the BJP became the strongest opposition party in terms of votes with 7.7% of the vote. Due to the majority suffrage, the BJP was unable to translate this success into mandates and only won a total of two constituencies in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
| Political party | Abbreviation | be right | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | % | +/- | number | +/- | % | ||
| Indian National Congress | INC | 115.478.267 | 49.20% | 6.51% | 404 | 51 | 78.6% |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | BJP | 18,202,853 | 7.74% | (New) | 2 | (New) | 0.4% |
| Janata party | JNP | 16.210.514 | 6.89% | 12.08% | 10 | 21 | 2.0% |
| Lok Dal | LKD | 14,040,064 | 5.97% | 3.42% | 3 | 38 | 0.6% |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | CPM | 13,809,950 | 5.87% | 0.37% | 22nd | 15 | 4.3% |
| Telugu Desam Party | TDP | 10,132,859 | 4.31% | (New) | 30th | (New) | 4.3% |
| Communist Party of India | CPI | 6,363,430 | 2.71% | 0.22% | 6th | 4 | 1.2% |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | DMK | 5,695,179 | 2.42% | 0.28% | 2 | 14 | 0.4% |
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | AIADMK | 3,968,967 | 1.69% | 0.67% | 12 | 10 | 2.3% |
| Indian Congress (Socialist) | IC (S) | 3,577,377 | 1.52% | 3.76% | 4th | 9 | 0.8% |
| Revolutionary Socialist Party | RSP | 1,173,869 | 0.5% | 0.15% | 3 | 1 | 0.6% |
| Indian National Congress (Jagjivan) | INC (J) | 1,511,515 | 0.64% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
| All India Forward Bloc | AIFB | 1,055,556 | 0.45% | 0.06% | 2 | 1 | 0.4% |
| Jammu & Kashmir National Conference | JKNC | 1.010.243 | 0.43% | 0.17% | 3 | 0.6% | |
| Muslim League | MUL | 658.821 | 0.28% | 2 | 0.4% | ||
| Kerala Congress (J) | KEC (J) | 598.113 | 0.25% | (New) | 2 | (New) | 0.4% |
| Doordarshi party | DDP | 508.426 | 0.22% | (New) | 0 | (New) | 0.0% |
| Peasants and Workers Party of India | PWP | 463.963 | 0.20% | 0.04% | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Independent | Independent | 18,623,803 | 7.92% | 1.49% | 5 | 4 | 1.0% |
| All other parties | 2,100,440 | 0.89% | 0.68% | 0 | 5 | 0% | |
| Valid votes | 235.184.209 | 100.0% | 514 | 15 | 100.0% | ||
| Registered voters / turnout | 379.540.608 | 63.56% | |||||
| Source: Election Commission of India | |||||||
- ↑ a b Regarding the number of seats won and lost, it should be noted that nationwide elections were only held in 514 of the 542 constituencies. In the last election in 1980, there were 529 constituencies.
- ↑ a b The BJP was founded in 1980.
- ↑ a b The TDP was founded in 1982.
- ↑ a b The IC (S) was created in 1981 by renaming from the Indian National Congress (Urs). Here are the election results of the two compared.
- ↑ a b The INC (J) was created in 1981 as a spin-off from the Indian National Congress (Urs).
Result by state and union territories
The following table lists the electoral districts won by state / union territory.
| State | Seats | Congress party |
Communist / left soc. Parties |
Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 1 | INC 1 | ||
| Andhra Pradesh | 42 | INC 6 |
CPI 1 CPM 1 |
TDP 30 JNP 1 BJP 1 IC (S) 1 Unab. 1 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 2 | INC 2 | ||
| Bihar | 54 | INC 48 | CPI 2 |
JNP 1 LKD 1 INC (J) 1 Unab. 1 |
| Chandigarh | 1 | INC 1 | ||
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 1 | Independent 1 | ||
| Delhi | 7th | INC 7 | ||
| Goa , Daman and Diu | 2 | INC 2 | ||
| Gujarat | 26th | INC 24 |
BJP 1 JNP 1 |
|
| Haryana | 10 | INC 10 | ||
| Himachal Pradesh | 4th | INC 4 | ||
| Jammu and Kashmir | 6th | INC 3 | JKNC 3 | |
| Karnataka | 28 | INC 24 | JNP 4 | |
| Kerala | 20th | INC 13 | CPM 1 |
IC (S) 1 MUL 2 KEC (J) 2 JNP 1 |
| Lakshadweep | 1 | INC 1 | ||
| Madhya Pradesh | 40 | INC 40 | ||
| Maharashtra | 48 | INC 43 |
IC (S) 2 JNP 1 PWP 1 Unab. 1 |
|
| Manipur | 2 | INC 2 | ||
| Meghalaya | 2 | INC 2 | ||
| Mizoram | 1 | |||
| Nagaland | 1 | INC 1 | ||
| Orissa | 21st | INC 20 | JNP 1 | |
| Pondicherry | 1 | INC 1 | ||
| Rajasthan | 25th | INC 25 | ||
| Sikkim | 1 | Independent 1 | ||
| Tamil Nadu | 39 | INC 25 |
AIADMK 12 DMK 2 |
|
| Tripura | 2 | CPM 2 | ||
| Uttar Pradesh | 85 | INC 83 | LKD 2 | |
| West Bengal | 42 | INC 16 |
CPM 18 CPI 3 RSP 3 AIFB 2 |
After the election
With the stable majority achieved, Rajiv Gandhi was able to feel democratically legitimized and put together his cabinet without coalition partners only from members of the Congress party. The Rajiv Gandhi government lasted until the regular end of the legislature in 1989. In 1985, the elections in the states of Assam and Punjab were rescheduled.
literature
- James Manor: The Indian General Election of 1984. Electoral Studies (1985), 4: 2. 149-158. (brief description of the choice)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on December 22, 2018 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence).
- ↑ a b There is hardly any information on the situation in Mizoram in 1984. However, the Indian Electoral Commission does not list results for Mizoram for the 1984 election.
- ↑ a b Indira Gandhi's death remembered. BBC News, November 1, 2009, accessed October 3, 2014 .
- Jump up ↑ India: The greatest threat to date. Der Spiegel, June 18, 1984, accessed October 4, 2014 .
- ↑ Leaders 'incited' anti-Sikh riots. BBC News, August 8, 2005, accessed October 3, 2014 .
- ^ Raj Chengappa: The survivors justice denied. September 12, 2005, accessed October 3, 2014 .
- ↑ JUSTICE NANAVATI COMMISSION OF INQUIRY (1984 ANTI-SIKH RIOTS) REPORT VOLUME I. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 27, 2014 ; accessed on October 3, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Gabriele Venzky: Advertise with the dead mother - Rajiv Gandhi and his congress party rely on the “indira factor”. Zeit online, December 21, 1984, accessed October 4, 2014 .
- ↑ a b James Manor: The Indian General Election of 1984. Electoral Studies (1985), 4: 2. 149-158.
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