General election in India in 1967
The general election in India in 1967 took place from February 15-21, 1967. In the election the composition of the second chamber of the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha , was decided. In parallel, elections to the state parliaments of most states took place. The election ended with a significant loss of votes and seats for the ruling Congress party under the new Prime Minister Indira Gandhi , who had only been in office last year . The Congress Party lost more than a fifth of the seats in parliament and its previous majority in many states. The conservative opposition parties in particular achieved profits, but to a lesser extent the socialists and communists as well. Despite the losses, the Congress party maintained its parliamentary majority and was able to form the government again following the election ( Indira Gandhi I cabinet ).
prehistory
Disputes about the successor to Nehru
There had been far-reaching developments during the five-year legislative period since the last election in 1962 . The most drastic domestic event was the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on May 27, 1964 after a previous long illness. Nehru was head of government from India's independence in 1947 and prime minister from the founding of the Republic of India in 1950 until his death. He had played a key role in determining India's domestic and foreign policy. Domestically, he had promoted a socialist-inspired policy of the centrally planned economy under extensive state control. In many ways the Soviet Union was a model here. This policy was also controversial within his party, the Congress Party, and in 1959 had led to the split-off of a faction under C. Rajagopalachari and other leaders, which in the following years became the most important liberal-conservative opposition party as the ' Swatantra Party '. After Nehru's death, his successor was initially unclear. There was no designated successor, only a number of regionally influential party leaders in Congress. A group of congressional politicians from non- Hindi states who came to be known as the “Syndicate” gained particular importance . The 'Syndicate' included K. Kamaraj , the former Chief Minister of Madras , Neelam Sanjiva Reddy , Congress Party Leader and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh , S. Nijalingappa , the Chief Minister of Mysore , Atulya Ghosh , Leader of Congress in West Bengal and SK Patil , leading congressional politician in Maharashtra .
Together, the 'Syndicate' exercised significant influence in the Congress Working Committee , the executive body of the Congress, and wanted to prevent the renewed formation of a strong central authority in Delhi. The initially most promising candidate to succeed Nehru, Finance Minister Morarji Desai , was passed over in favor of a much weaker candidate, Lal Bahadur Shastri . Shastri was elected the new Prime Minister in 1964. Shastri's tenure did not last very long. On January 11, 1966, he died unexpectedly during the Tashkent Conference in the Soviet Union, the day after he had signed an agreement with the Pakistani ruler Muhammad Ayub Khan . Then the question of succession arose again and the 'Syndicate' again asserted its influence. Eventually Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi , who had already been a minister in Shastri's cabinet , was elected as the new prime minister.
Border war with China in 1962 and war with Pakistan in 1965
In the 5 years between 1962 and 1967 there were two armed conflicts. Since the days of British India there had been uncertainties about the exact course of the borders between India and China. These ambiguities concerned two areas, firstly most of the area of the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA, later the state of Arunachal Pradesh ) and secondly the border in the area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir ( Aksai Chin ). In the 1950s, the Chinese side tried to downplay the differences, although it was clear that there were different points of view. However, India 's relationship with the People's Republic of China deteriorated significantly when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet to India after the Tibetan uprising in 1959 , where Nehru granted him asylum. In India, the Dalai Lama formed a Tibetan government in exile . In the following period there were repeated skirmishes along the disputed borders. On October 20, 1962, the Chinese People's Liberation Army launched a massive offensive in the NEFA and Aksai Chin areas and occupied the disputed areas. After the armistice on November 21, 1962, the Chinese armed forces withdrew from NEFA, but Aksai Chin remained permanently under Chinese control. Even if the almost uninhabited Aksai Chin in the Himalayas had not been under Indian control for the most part, this military defeat meant a loss of prestige for the Nehru government.
The second war arose with Pakistan in 1965. In August, more than 20,000 Pakistani army personnel recruited from Azad Kashmir , the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir, crossed the border into Indian Kashmir in civilian clothes. The aim was to get the majority Muslim population in the Indian part of Kashmir to revolt against India. However, the plan failed thoroughly. There was no uprising, but a direct military conflict that was initially limited to Kashmir, but then quickly expanded to the entire border between India and West Pakistan . The conflict, in which India had long-term control, ended on September 23, 1965 with the conclusion of the armistice. In essence, the territorial status quo was confirmed.
Changes in State and Union Territories
Since independence in 1947, there have been secessionist tendencies in the Naga settlement areas on the northeastern border of India, which at times made the use of the Indian army necessary. In 1957 the central demand of the Naga politicians for the administrative amalgamation of the Naga settlement areas was met and the Naga Hills-Tuensang Area was created as a new administrative unit . With effect from September 4, 1962, the territory became a fully fledged Indian state under the name ' Nagaland '. After years of unrest in Punjab because the Sikhs living there demanded a separate state with a Sikh majority, Indira Gandhi decided in 1966 to partition the state. The Hindi state of Haryana was newly formed. In the new, smaller Punjab, the Sikhs formed the majority and Punjabi became the official language there. Punjab and Haryana also played a central role in implementing the government-sponsored " Green Revolution " to increase agricultural production.
After Pondicherry was also transferred de jure from France to India in 1962 ( de facto as early as 1954), the union territory of the same name was formed from it (together with Karikal , Mahé and Yanam ) with the 14th amendment to the constitution. With the Union Territories (Direct Election to the House of the People) Act, 1965 , the three union territories, Andaman and Nicobar , Laccadive, Amindiv and Minicoy, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli , were each given the right to directly elect one Lok Sabha MP. In the 1962 election, the president had appointed the representatives of these union territories.
At the end of 1965, the parliament of Jammu and Kashmir passed a constitutional amendment according to which in future the members of Jammu and Kashmir should be elected directly in constituencies for the Lok Sabha. In the previous elections, these MPs were appointed by the Indian President on a proposal from the parliament of Jammu and Kashmir.
Parties and election campaign
After the previous national election in 1962, the Central Electoral Commission recognized 14 parties in at least one of the states (excluding Jammu and Kashmir) and assigned them an election symbol. In 1964, there were two major changes. On the one hand, the Communist Party of India (CPI) split. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) formed from the split-off wing , which was recognized by the electoral commission in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh and received a new electoral symbol (hammer and sickle with a star). In July 1964, the Praja Socialist Party (PSP) and the Socialist Party (SPI) merged to form the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP, "United Socialist Party"). The merged party was also recognized by the electoral commission and received the previous election symbol of the PSP (the hut). The latter merger proved short-lived, however, and in January 1965 former PSP members re-established the Praja Socialist Party. A lengthy dispute ensued over the election symbol, which the PSP finally got back after a decision by the Supreme Court in 1965. The SSP received the tree, the election symbol of the old Socialist Party, as an election symbol. Shortly before the 1967 election, there were a total of 23 parties with reserved symbols in different states. In the election campaign, the major parties essentially defended the positions they had already made clear in the 1962 election. The congress emphasized its integrative power independent of particular interests. Above all, Swatantra called for an end to the planned economy with the five-year plans, a liberalization of the economy and the opening of India to the United States and Western Europe in terms of foreign policy. In stark contrast, the communists called for the termination of US economic aid and the complete nationalization of industries. The socialists took positions between Congress and Communists, and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh called for a more decisive, more nationally stressed policy of Hindu interests, especially towards Pakistan and the People's Republic of China.
Constituency division
Due to the population growth, the borders of the constituencies had to be adjusted again. This task was taken over by the Indian Delimitation Commission of India , which divided India into 520 Lok Sabha constituencies based on the 1961 census. In accordance with the provisions of the Indian Constitution , constituencies were reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST).
No | State / Union Territory |
Constituencies | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
General | SC | ST | total | ||
1 | Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
2 | Andhra Pradesh | 33 | 6th | 2 | 41 |
3 | Assam | 11 | 1 | 2 | 14th |
4th | Bihar | 41 | 7th | 5 | 53 |
5 | Chandigarh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
6th | Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
7th | Delhi | 6th | 1 | 0 | 7th |
8th | Goa , Daman and Diu | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
9 | Gujarat | 19th | 2 | 3 | 24 |
10 | Haryana | 7th | 2 | 0 | 9 |
11 | Himachal Pradesh | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6th |
12 | Jammu and Kashmir | 6th | 0 | 0 | 6th |
13 | Kerala | 17th | 2 | 0 | 19th |
14th | Laccadives, Amine Divas and Minicoy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
15th | Madhya Pradesh | 24 | 5 | 8th | 37 |
16 | Madras | 32 | 7th | 0 | 39 |
17th | Maharashtra | 39 | 3 | 3 | 45 |
18th | Manipur | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
19th | Mysore | 23 | 4th | 0 | 27 |
20th | Nagaland | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
21st | Orissa | 12 | 3 | 5 | 20th |
22nd | Pondicherry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
23 | Punjab | 10 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
24 | Rajasthan | 16 | 4th | 3 | 23 |
25th | Tripura | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
27 | Uttar Pradesh | 67 | 18th | 0 | 85 |
28 | West Bengal | 30th | 8th | 2 | 40 |
total | 406 | 77 | 37 | 520 |
voter turnout
The turnout averaged 61.04%, but varied greatly from region to region. Of the states, it was highest in Kerala and Madras, at over 75%, and (as in the previous election), lowest in Orissa, at 43.7%.
State or Union Territory |
electoral legitimate |
Voters | electoral participation |
Invalid votes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 47,064 | 36,924 | 78.45% | 0.52% |
Andhra Pradesh | 21.091.212 | 14,124,097 | 66.97% | 3.89% |
Assam | 5,741,959 | 3,157,355 | 54.99% | 5.37% |
Bihar | 27,729,950 | 14,289,861 | 51.53% | 4.50% |
Chandigarh | 76,232 | 49,829 | 65.36% | 1.35% |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 29,564 | 23,144 | 78.28% | 8.19% |
Delhi | 1,684,714 | 1,170,743 | 69.49% | 4.24% |
Goa , Daman and Diu | 418.394 | 286.050 | 68.37% | 2.89% |
Gujarat | 10,692,948 | 6,818,682 | 63.77% | 4.85% |
Haryana | 4,386,711 | 3,185,295 | 72.61% | 4.18% |
Himachal Pradesh | 1,582,315 | 810.128 | 51.20% | 4.12% |
Jammu and Kashmir | 1,632,522 | 872.104 | 53.42% | 3.38% |
Kerala | 8,616,556 | 6,517,765 | 75.64% | 3.78% |
Laccadives, Minicoy and Amine Divas | 14,505 | 11,897 | 82.02% | 0.76% |
Madhya Pradesh | 18,393,340 | 9,833,743 | 53.46% | 5.89% |
Madras | 20,796,700 | 15,922,449 | 76.56% | 3.04% |
Maharashtra | 22.225.473 | 14,391,706 | 64.75% | 5.07% |
Manipur | 483.049 | 324,796 | 67.24% | 2.97% |
Mysore | 12,778,996 | 8,044,053 | 62.95% | 4.76% |
Nagaland | 214,951 | - | - | - |
Orissa | 9,883,171 | 4,318,749 | 43.70% | 5.95% |
Pondicherry | 216,689 | 162.193 | 74.85% | 2.05% |
Punjab | 6,311,501 | 4,489,663 | 71.13% | 4.55% |
Rajasthan | 12.176.265 | 7,095,560 | 58.27% | 3.96% |
Tripura | 601.964 | 450,521 | 74.84% | 2.61% |
Uttar Pradesh | 42.131.487 | 22,966,855 | 54.51% | 5.15% |
West Bengal | 20.249.169 | 13,370,449 | 66.03% | 3.80% |
total | 250.207.401 | 152.724.611 | 61.04% | 4.47% |
- ↑ a b c There was no election in Nagaland. After the formation of the state of Nagaland in 1962 and the first elections to the local parliament in 1964, the Indian Electoral Commission recognized two political parties there, the Naga Nationalist Organization (NNO) and the Democratic Party of Nagaland . The latter, however, dissolved again in May 1965. Before the 1967 election, the NNO was the only party in Nagaland recognized by the electoral commission (the Congress party was also not registered there). In the 1967 election there was no opposing candidate for the NNO candidate, so that he was declared automatically elected.
Results
The election ended with significant losses for the ruling Congress party. It received 40.8% of the vote, 3.9% less than in the 1962 election. The loss of parliamentary seats was much more dramatic. Here the Congress slipped from 73.1% to 54.4% and thus lost more than a quarter of the previous parliamentary seats. The party suffered the heaviest losses in Madras (1962: 31 constituencies for Congress, 1967: 3), Uttar Pradesh (1962: 62, 1967: 47), West Bengal (1962: 22, 1967: 14) and Orissa (1962: 14 , 1962: 6). In Kerala, the Congress Party was able to win only one of the 19 constituencies and in Delhi 6 of 7 constituencies went to the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS). The main winners were the conservative parties. The Swatantra party increased its share of the vote from 7.9% to 8.7% and was able to more than double its mandates from 18 to 44. Swatantra focused on the states of Gujarat, Orissa, Rajasthan and Madras. In the Hindu nationalist camp, the BJS had established itself as the dominant force. The ideologically competing Hindu Mahasabha hardly played a role anymore and Ram Rajya Parishad had meanwhile completely dissolved. The BJS, which in the last election was still in fifth place in terms of votes, became the second largest party and increased its mandate from 14 to 35 members. In addition to Delhi, the BJS also did particularly well in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
On the left political spectrum, the communists were weakened by the split in their movement in 1964. With regard to the total number of votes cast for them, the communists recorded a slight loss of votes. In terms of their proportion of mandates, however, they were able to increase (1962: 5.9% for the CPI, 1967: 4.4% CPI and 3.7% CPM), but the mandates were now divided between two communist parties. The socialists were also affected by the split into the Samyukta Socialist Party and Praja Socialist Party (PSP) and together came to almost 8% of the vote and 6.9% of the mandate. This means that they received proportionally fewer votes than in 1962 (then 10.5% for PSP and SPI ), but more seats (1962: 3.6%).
In addition to the classic left and right parties, there were a large number of regional parties and non-party mandate holders. What was remarkable was the performance of the Tamil nationalist Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , who won 25 of the 39 constituencies of Madras.
Overall result
Political party | Abbreviation | be right | Seats | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
number | % | +/- | number | +/- | % | ||
Indian National Congress | INC | 59.490.701 | 40.78% | 3.94% | 283 | 78 | 54.4% |
Bharatiya Jana Sangh | BJS | 13,580,935 | 9.31% | 2.87% | 35 | 21 | 6.7% |
Swatantra party | SWA | 12,646,847 | 8.67% | 0.78% | 44 | 26 | 8.5% |
Communist Party of India | CPI | 7,458,396 | 5.11% | 4.83% | 23 | 6 | 4.4% |
Samyukta Socialist Party | SSP | 7,171,627 | 4.92% | (New) | 23 | (New) | 4.4% |
Communist Party of India (Marxist) | CPM | 6,246,522 | 4.28% | (New) | 19th | (New) | 3.7% |
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | DMK | 5,529,405 | 3.79% | 1.78% | 25th | 18 | 4.8% |
Praja Socialist Party | PSP | 4,456,487 | 3.06% | 3.75% | 13 | 1 | 2.5% |
Republican Party | RPI | 3,607,711 | 2.47% | 0.36% | 1 | 2 | 0.2% |
Bangla Congress | BAC | 1,204,356 | 0.83% | (New) | 5 | (New) | 1.0% |
Peasants and Workers Party | PWP | 1,028,755 | 0.71% | 0.10% | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
Akali Dal - Sant Fateh Singh | ADS | 968.712 | 0.66% | 0.06% | 3 | 0.6% | |
Forward Bloc | AIFB | 627.910 | 0.43% | 0.29% | 2 | 0.4% | |
Muslim League of the Indian Union | MUL | 413,868 | 0.28% | 0.08% | 2 | 0.4% | |
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference | JKNC | 210.020 | 0.14% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
Jana Kranti Dal | JKD | 183.211 | 0.13% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
All Party Hill Leaders' Conference | APHLC | 112,492 | 0.08% | 1 | 0.2% | ||
United Goans - Seqveria | UGS | 100.137 | 0.07% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
Other | - | 722.367 | 0.49% | - | 0 | - | 0.0% |
Independent candidates | Independent | 20,106,051 | 13.78% | 2.70% | 35 | 15 | 6.7% |
total | 145.866.510 | 100.00% | - | 519 | 26 | 100.0% |
Result by state and union territories
The following table shows the elected MPs by party affiliation and state or Union territories.
State / Union Territory |
Seats | Hindu nationalists |
Congress party |
Communist / left soc. Parties |
Other |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 1 | INC 1 | |||
Andhra Pradesh | 41 | INC 35 | CPI 1 |
SWA 3 Independent 2 |
|
Assam | 14th | INC 10 |
PSP 2 CPI 1 |
APHLC 1 | |
Bihar | 53 | BJS 1 | INC 34 |
SSP 7 CPI 5 PSP 1 |
JKD 1 Independent 4th |
Chandigarh | 1 | BJS 1 | |||
Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 1 | INC 1 | |||
Goa , Daman and Diu | 1 | INC 1 | UGS 1 | ||
Delhi | 7th | BJS 6 | INC 1 | ||
Gujarat | 24 | INC 12 |
SWA 11 Independent 1 |
||
Haryana | 9 | BJS 1 | INC 7 | Independent 1 | |
Himachal Pradesh | 6th | INC 6 | |||
Jammu and Kashmir | 6th | INC 5 | JKNC 1 | ||
Kerala | 19th | INC 1 |
CPM 9 CPI 3 SSP 3 |
MUL 2 Independent 1 |
|
Laccadives, Minicoy and Amine Divas | 1 | Independent 1 | |||
Madhya Pradesh | 37 | BJS 10 | INC 24 |
SWA 1 Independent 2 |
|
Madras | 39 | INC 3 | CPM 4 |
DMK 25 SWA 6 independent 1 |
|
Maharashtra | 45 | INC 37 |
CPI 2 PWP 2 SSP 2 PSP 1 |
Independent 1 | |
Manipur | 2 | CPI 1 | Independent 1 | ||
Mysore | 27 | INC 18 |
PSP 2 SSP 1 |
SWA 5 Independent 1 |
|
Nagaland | 1 | NNO 1 | |||
Orissa | 20th | INC 6 |
PSP 4 SSP 1 |
SWA 8 Independent 1 |
|
Punjab | 13 | BJS 1 | INC 9 | ADS 3 | |
Pondicherry | 1 | INC 1 | |||
Rajasthan | 23 | BJS 3 | INC 10 |
SWA 8 Independent 2 |
|
Tripura | 2 | INC 2 | |||
Uttar Pradesh | 85 | BJS 12 | INC 47 |
SSP 8 CPI 5 PSP 2 CPM 1 |
RPI 1 SWA 1 Independent 8th |
West Bengal | 40 | INC 14 |
CPM 5 CPI 5 AIFB 2 PSP 1 SSP 1 |
BAC 5 independent 7th |
After the election
Even if the Congress party was able to maintain an absolute parliamentary majority in the Lok Sabha, most observers rated the election as a clear defeat of the Congress. The Congress Party had achieved its worst result by far since the founding of the Republic of India in 1950. Congress had provided chief ministers in almost every state in uninterrupted succession since independence. In the recent elections, many state governments of the Congress Party were lost and chief ministers were elected from other parties. For many observers, it seemed only a matter of time before the Congress government in Delhi would be replaced by an opposition government. Many did not trust the new Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with the necessary leadership to lead Congress to another victory in the next election. This assessment turned out to be wrong. In the years that followed, Indira Gandhi made a clear change of course, which brought her into conflict with the party's old power elites and even led to the party's split in 1969.
literature
- Indian Election Commission (Ed.): Report on the fourth general elections in India 1967 . tape 1 . Government of India Press, New Delhi 1968.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e 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).
- ↑ The Naga Hills-Tuensang Area Act, 1957. indiankanoon.org/, November 29, 1957, accessed on May 16, 2017 .
- ↑ The State Of Nagaland Act, 1962. indiankanoon.org/, September 4, 1962, accessed on May 16, 2017 .
- ^ The Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966. indiankanoon.org/, September 18, 1966, accessed May 13, 2017 .
- ↑ THE UNION TERRITORIES (DIRECT ELECTION TO THE HOUSE OF THE PEOPLE) ACT, 1965. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Ministry of Justice of India, December 22, 1965, archived from the original on July 21, 2017 ; accessed on May 18, 2017 (English). 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.
- ↑ Sumantra Bose: Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace . 2005, ISBN 978-0-674-01817-4 , pp. 82 (English).
- ↑ Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta: Jammu and Kashmir . Martinus Nijhoff , The Hague 1968, ISBN 978-94-011-8499-1 , p. 306–307 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-94-011-9231-6 (English, google.de ).
- ^ Benjamin N. Schoenfeld: The Birth of India's Samyukta Socialist Party . In: Pacific Affairs . tape 38 , no. 3/4 . University of British Columbia Press, 1966, pp. 245-268 , JSTOR : 2754030 (English).
- ↑ Indian Election Commission, Report, Volume 1, Chapter IV: Political Parties and Symbols, pp. 27ff.
- ^ A b N. CB Ray Chaudhury: The Future of Indian Politics . In: The Political Quarterly . tape 38 , no. 3 . Wiley Online, July 1967, pp. 290-300 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1467-923X.1967.tb00682.x (English).
- ^ NCB Ray Chaudhury: The Politics of Indias Coalitions . tape 40 , no. 3 . Wiley Online, July 1969, pp. 296–306 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1467-923X.1969.tb00025.x (English).
- ↑ Election Commission, Report, Volume 1, Chapter IV: Political Parties and Symbols, p. 33.
- ↑ Hans Walter Berg: India's pendulum swings to the right: 240 million people go to the ballot box. ZEIT online, February 10, 1967, accessed on May 8, 2017 .
- ^ Rajni Kothari: The Political Change of 1967 . In: Economic and Political Weekly . tape 6 , no. 3/5 , January 1971, p. 231-250 , JSTOR : 4381547 (English).