General election in India 1977
The parliamentary elections in India in 1977 took place from March 16-20. It ended with a clear defeat for the ruling Congress Party under Indira Gandhi , which lost more than half of its parliamentary seats. The winners of the election were the opposition parties that had come together to form the Janata Alliance . As a result of the election, for the first time in the 30-year history of independent India, a government was formed that was not supported by the Congress Party.
prehistory
After Nehru's death in 1964, there had been intra-party power struggles in the Congress Party, from which Indira Gandhi, Nehru's daughter, emerged victorious. The Congress party split in 1969 into a faction led by Indira, which was more left-wing socialist, and a more conservative wing under the leadership of Morarji Desai , the Indian National Congress (Organization) , or Congress (O) for short . In the 1971 elections , Gandhi's Congress Party was able to win a two-thirds majority of the parliamentary seats, benefiting from the current relative majority voting rights, while the Congress (O) only got 3% of the parliamentary seats.
In the following years Gandhi was able to rule with a very large majority. However, opposition to their policy from various sides formed. The Prime Minister was increasingly accused of being autocratic and dictatorial. In particular, their ongoing conflict with the Indian supreme courts and their attempts to have the Indian constitution changed in their favor were viewed critically. In order to end the fragmentation of the opposition that had favored Indira Gandhi's election victory, seven different opposition parties joined forces on August 29, 1974 in Delhi under the name of Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD) under the leadership of Chaudhary Charan Singh .
For others, the socialist measures of Indira Gandhi's government did not go far enough. After the significant improvement in economic and living conditions that she had promised in the election campaign failed to materialize, there were extensive strikes, student unrest and social revolutionary movements, especially in the poor northern Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh , where Jayaprakash Narayan openly called for the overthrow of the government. On a high point of the civil unrest, the Prime Minister was to restore internal order on 25 June 1975 by the Indian President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed the state of emergency in the country proclaim that lasted until March 21, 1977th During this time, the Prime Minister ruled by decree, fundamental rights, such as freedom of the press, were abolished and thousands of opposition activists were imprisoned.
After the domestic political situation had calmed down again and the economic outlook seemed much more positive, Indira Gandhi announced on January 18, 1977, relatively surprisingly, the easing of the state of emergency and the holding of parliamentary elections from March 16 to 20, 1977. All prisoners of the opposition were released and freedom of the press and freedom of assembly largely restored. Formally, however, the state of emergency remained in force until March 21, 1977.
Parties
Shortly after Indira Gandhi's election announcement, the largest opposition parties joined forces on January 23, 1977 in Delhi to form an electoral alliance, the Janata Alliance . This electoral alliance included politically very heterogeneous groups such as the Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD), the Congress (O) and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh . This coalition of parties had already been successful in the elections to the Gujarat parliament in June 1975, but was unable to consolidate this success due to the state of emergency that was declared a little later. The formal association to the Janata Party took place on May 1st, 1977 after the election and only after the election was the official registration with the Indian Election Commission as a national party . In the election campaign, the candidates of the Janata Alliance used the symbols of the BLD.
The alliance was supported by well-known opposition and labor leaders such as Raj Narain and George Fernandes and dissidents from Indira Gandhi's Congress Party. In the following period, other prominent defectors from the Congress Party declared their support for the Janata Alliance, including the former President of the Congress Party and Minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet Jagjivan Ram and the former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and Orissa Nandini Satpathy . The first signs of the popularity of the opposition were the large numbers of several 100,000 people attending election rallies by the opposition in major Indian cities. In order to prevent further defectors from the Congress party, the Congress Election Committee decided, at the instigation of Indira Gandhi, to reassign as far as possible the previous constituency representatives in their respective constituencies. The original plan to place candidates for the Youth Congress , the youth organization of the Congress Party , in a larger number of constituencies has been dropped. The Youth Congress was under the leadership of Sanjay Gandhi , the younger son of Indira Gandhi and formed his "house power" in the Congress party. Had the plan been carried out, it would have been an important step in building Sanjay as Indira's successor.
The Communist Party of India (CPI), which is based on Soviet standards, and the Muslim League supported the Congress Party in the election campaign. Individual prominent Muslims, such as the imam of the Jama Masjid in Delhi, spoke out in public for the opposition. The CPI had supported Indira Gandhi's supposedly “progressive” policies since 1969 and was also the only major Indian party that had not condemned the declaration of a state of emergency. However, during the state of emergency, the CPI came into increasing opposition to the congress party because of the ban on strikes and meetings and the supposedly business-friendly policies of Sanjay Gandhi. During the election campaign, the CPI leadership spoke out in favor of supporting the Congress Party, but left it to the local federal organizations to decide who they supported, which led to the CPI supporting the Congress Party in West Bengal, for example , and the Janata in Bihar and Orissa Party. During the election campaign, the opposition parties made fun of this inconsistent stance by noting that the CPI recommended the choice of the cow without the calf ( "... vote for the cow without the calf" - the Congress party's campaign symbol at the time was a cow with a calf) .
In contrast, the other major Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), was in constant opposition to Indira Gandhi's policies and made constituency agreements with the Janata Party during the election campaign .
In Tamil Nadu , the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), whose government was suspended by Indira Gandhi during the state of emergency, formed an alliance with the Janata Party . However, DMK was unpopular due to allegations of corruption and weakened by the break-off from All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in 1972 . AIADMK supported Indira's Congress Party.
In Punjab , the Sikh party Akali Dal supported the Janata Party.
Indira Gandhi
Chairwoman of the Congress Party
Morarji Desai
Leader of Congress (O) and the Janata Alliance
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Election campaign
The overall economic situation in India had developed rather favorably during the time of the state of emergency, so that many election observers assumed that the simple rural population would vote for the majority of the Congress party. Indira tried to influence the press during the election campaign by only placing government advertisements in newspapers that were well-disposed towards the government. Of the major English-language newspapers in India, the Indian Express and the Statesman campaigned for the opposition, while The Hindu and Hindustan Times supported the government. The largest newspaper, the Times of India, was initially cautious in its reporting, but over time it devoted more and more reports to the opposition.
One point of criticism from the opposition parties was the government's population policy, which had been directed primarily by Sanjay Gandhi. It was criticized that sterilizations had been carried out without full consent or after insufficient information was given to those affected and that state coercion was exercised in family planning . For example, a law was being prepared in Maharashtra state that would make it compulsory for state officials to have more than three children sterilized. In the northern Indian states of Uttar Pradesh , Bihar and Haryana in particular , the family planning program had set quotas for the minimum number of people to be sterilized. In order to meet these quotas, considerable pressure was exerted on those responsible for the program on site and, according to reports, forced sterilizations had also occurred as a result. These reports created considerable anxiety and uncertainty.
Another point of criticism was the multiple amendments to the Indian constitution initiated by Indira Gandhi , which were seen as undermining the Indian democratic order. Between 1971 and March 1977, Indira's government had implemented a total of 18 amendments to the constitution. At a Janata Party election campaign event , the writer PL Deshpande told his amused audience that he had asked a bookstore in Bombay about a copy of the Indian Constitution and was then turned down by the seller on the grounds that he did not carry any magazines (“ ... was told by the shopkeeper that he didn't keep periodicals ").
Election mode and election procedure
Like the previous parliamentary elections, the election for Lok Sabha took place in individual constituencies according to the relative majority vote . As a result of the 1970 census, the constituency boundaries had been redefined by the Delimitation Commission of India , so that each constituency, as far as possible, had a similar number of voters. This also increased the number of constituencies from 518 to 542. The 1977 election was the first election with these newly established constituency boundaries. All Indian citizens who were at least 21 years of age were actively eligible to vote; all Indian citizens aged 25 and over were eligible to vote (eligible). The Janata Alliance ran a candidate in a total of 423 constituencies, the Congress Party in 493 constituencies, the Communist Party of India in 91 and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 53 constituencies.
Overall, the elections went largely according to plan and in a relatively orderly manner. There were 906 incidents across the country in connection with the elections by the law enforcement officers, in which 14 people died (in the 1971 election: 1,836 incidents and 250 deaths).
| State or Union Territory |
electoral legitimate |
Voters | electoral participation |
Invalid votes |
Number of polling stations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 27,567,618 | 17,220,943 | 62.47% | 3.00% | 30,815 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 215,657 | 52,764 | 24.47% | 3.93% | 305 |
| Assam | 7,225,616 | 3,965,448 | 54.88% | 3.58% | 8,391 |
| Bihar | 34.996.402 | 21.264.278 | 60.76% | 1.83% | 40,964 |
| Goa , Daman and Diu | 477,404 | 299,786 | 62.80% | 2.25% | 618 |
| Gujarat | 14,109,708 | 8,353,883 | 59.21% | 2.89% | 18,314 |
| Haryana | 5,766,654 | 4,224,405 | 73.26% | 1.80% | 6,299 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 1,961,050 | 1,167,927 | 59.56% | 2.49% | 3,361 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 2,557,422 | 1,479,514 | 57.85% | 3.73% | 3,604 |
| Karnataka | 16,767,195 | 10,596,342 | 63.20% | 3.08% | 20,498 |
| Kerala | 11,460,901 | 9,077,000 | 79.20% | 2.43% | 10690 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 22,782,932 | 12,512,691 | 54.92% | 5.60% | 27766 |
| Maharashtra | 28,856,991 | 17,404,823 | 60.31% | 2.95% | 33689 |
| Manipur | 788.223 | 473,895 | 60.12% | 1.81% | 910 |
| Meghalaya | 530.326 | 264,544 | 49.88% | 3.97% | 698 |
| Mizoram | 204,480 | 102.075 | 49.92% | 1.32% | 273 |
| Nagaland | 473.257 | 250.016 | 52.83% | 3.54% | 843 |
| Orissa | 12,645,435 | 5,603,842 | 44.32% | 3.75% | 14,133 |
| Punjab | 8,163,885 | 5,725,795 | 70.14% | 2.00% | 9,264 |
| Rajasthan | 15.240.432 | 8,673,720 | 56.91% | 3.10% | 19,089 |
| Sikkim | 124.023 | ? | ? % | ? % | ? |
| Tamil Nadu | 27.187.417 | 18.252.182 | 67.13% | 2.15% | 29,792 |
| Tripura | 866.056 | 606.833 | 70.07% | 3.07% | 1055 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 51.934.297 | 29,311,002 | 56.44% | 2.11% | 59899 |
| West Bengal | 25.122.416 | 15.133.005 | 60.24% | 2.98% | 29083 |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 85,308 | 60,590 | 71.02% | 0.04% | 165 |
| Chandigarh | 160.963 | 108,494 | 67.40% | 1.30% | 150 |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 37,532 | 25,706 | 68.49% | 6.13% | 43 |
| Delhi | 2,547,064 | 1,816,372 | 71.31% | 1.01% | 2,799 |
| Lakshadweep | 19,471 | 16,480 | 84.64% | 0.57% | 27 |
| Pondicherry | 298.192 | 219,560 | 73.63% | 1.51% | 372 |
| total | 321.174.327 | 194.263.915 | 60.49% | 2.75% | 373.910 |
Source: Indian Electoral Commission
- ↑ a b c d The Indian Electoral Commission does not have detailed results for Sikkim (as of July 2014).
Results
Overall result
The result of the election surprised most observers, who had expected another, albeit narrower, election victory for the Congress party. Even the Janata party leaders were cautious about their election prospects, and Morarji Desai had formulated the formation of the strongest possible opposition as the election goal. Instead, the Congress party suffered a devastating election defeat. Compared to the previous election in 1971, it lost almost a quarter of the votes it received at the time and more than half of its parliamentary seats. The newly founded Janata Alliance or Janata Party came from a standstill, despite significantly worse starting conditions, with more than 40% of the votes and achieved an absolute majority of the seats in the Lok Sabha. The two communist parties lost votes slightly. The Congress (O), now part of the Janata Alliance , which had received more than 10% of the vote in the 1971 election, only won 1.7% of the vote and 3 of the 542 constituencies. The regional distribution of the election wins was particularly remarkable. The Janata Alliance won almost all of northern India. In Uttar Pradesh it won all 85 constituencies. Indira Gandhi was clearly defeated there in her constituency Rae Bareli against her challenger Raj Narain , who won more than 55,000 votes with 177,719 votes. Sanjay Gandhi also lost his neighboring constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh with more than 75,000 votes different from his opponent RP Singh. The only northern states in which the Congress Party was able to hold its own were Jammu and Kashmir in the northwest and Assam and neighboring areas in the northeast. In contrast, the opposition parties in the four southern “Dravidian” states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka were barely able to win constituencies. In these four states taken together, the opposition parties only won seven of the 129 constituencies (two for the BLD, three for Congress (O) and two for DMK). In the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Orissa the results were mixed, but mostly in favor of the Janata Alliance. In Punjab, the Sikh party Shiromani Akali Dal was successful and won nine of the 13 constituencies.
| Political party | Abbreviation | be right | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | % | +/- | number | +/- | % | ||
| Bharatiya Lok Dal | BLD | 78,062,828 | 41.32% | (New) | 295 | (New) | 54.4% |
| Indian National Congress | INC | 65.211.589 | 34.52% | 9.16% | 154 | 198 | 28.4% |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | CPM | 8,113,659 | 4.29% | 0.83% | 22nd | 3 | 4.1% |
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | AIADMK | 5,480,378 | 2.19% | (New) | 18th | (New) | 3.3% |
| Communist Party of India | CPI | 5,322,088 | 2.90% | 1.83% | 7th | 16 | 1.3% |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | DMK | 3,323,320 | 1.76% | 2.08% | 2 | 21 | 0.4% |
| Indian National Congress (Organization) | INC (O) | 3,252,217 | 1.72% | 8.71% | 3 | 13 | 0.6% |
| Shiromani Akali Dal | SAD | 2,373,331 | 1.26% | 0.39% | 9 | 8 | 1.7% |
| Peasants and Workers Party of India | PWP | 1,030,232 | 0.55% | 0.04% | 5 | 5 | 0.4% |
| Republican Party of India (Khobragade) | RPK | 956.072 | 0.51% | 0.14% | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Revolutionary Socialist Party | RSP | 851.164 | 0.45% | 0.04% | 4th | 1 | 0.7% |
| All India Forward Bloc | AIFB | 633,644 | 0.34% | 0.32% | 3 | 1 | 0.6% |
| Jammu & Kashmir National Conference | JKNC | 483.192 | 0.26% | 0.26% | 2 | 2 | 0.6% |
| Kerala Congress | KEC | 491,674 | 0.26% | 0.11% | 2 | 1 | 0.4% |
| Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | MGP | 118,748 | 0.06% | 0.02% | 1 | 1 | 0.2% |
| Muslim League | MUL | 565.007 | 0.30% | 0.02% | 2 | 0.4% | |
| United Democratic Front | UDF | 124,627 | 0.07% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
| All India Jharkhand Party | JKP | 126,288 | 0.07% | 0.12% | 1 | 0.2% | |
| Independent | Independent | 10,393,617 | 5.50% | 2.88% | 9 | 5 | 0.2% |
| All other parties | 2,003,829 | 1.67% | 16.74% | 0 | 53 | 0% | |
| Valid votes | 188.917.504 | 100.00% | 542 | 24 | 100.00% | ||
| Registered voters / turnout | 321.174.327 | 60.49% | |||||
| Source: Election Commission of India | |||||||
- ↑ a b Regarding the seat gains and losses, it should be taken into account that 518 members were elected in 1971, but 542 in 1977 due to the constituency reform
- ↑ a b Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD) was founded in 1974 through a merger of seven parties. In 1971 these seven parties together received 9.48% of the vote and 12 seats. Compared to this number, BLD had gained 31.84% of votes and 283 mandates (+ 52.2%).
Results by state and union territories
The following table lists the electoral districts won by state / union territory.
After the election
The surprising election victory of the Janata Alliance was received largely with relief worldwide. The development of India at the time of the state of emergency had been observed with concern in the countries of the western world. India had long been seen as a more or less successful model for developing a third world country within the framework of a parliamentary democracy. The time of the state of emergency with the “dictatorship” of Indira Gandhi was viewed with corresponding concern. The satisfaction was all the greater when the Indian voters, the majority of whom were illiterate and whom Western observers hardly believed capable of differentiated political judgment, gave Indira Gandhi a clear rejection, thus apparently demonstrating their democratic maturity. The People's Republic of China also welcomed the election result and expressed the hope that it would change India's “pro-Soviet” stance. The Soviet Union tried to limit the damage and emphasized that the good Indian-Soviet relations would not be affected by the election result. On March 21, 1977, the day after the election ended and it became clear that the Congress Party had lost the election, the state of emergency was lifted. On March 24, 1977, Morarji Desai was elected by Congress (O) to be Prime Minister and party leader of the Janata Alliance, which officially merged on May 1, 1977 under the name Janata Party . Shortly thereafter, he presented his cabinet to the public.
Web links
- Aaron S. Klieman: Indira's India: Democracy and Crisis Government. Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 96, No. 2 (1981), pp. 241-259. JSTOR 2150338
- 1977 Lok Sabha elections: After the nightmare of Emergency, democracy finds it voice again, some pictures from the March days 1977 (English)
- Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed July 20, 2014 (English, results of the Indian elections).
literature
- GG Mirchandani: 320 Million Judges - Analysis of 1977 Lok Sabha and State Elections in India . Abhinav Publications, New Delhi, 1977 (detailed account of the events, English). ISBN 81-7017-061-3 .
- Myron Weiner: The 1977 Parliamentary Elections in India. Asian Survey, Vol. 17, No. 7 (July 1977), pp. 619-626. JSTOR 2643409
- Khousar J. Azam: The sixth general elections: a study of the election manifestos of the national parties. The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 38, No. 3 (July-Sept. 1977), pp. 375-394. JSTOR 41854806
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 The seven founding parties were: Bharatiya Kranti Dal , Swatantra Party , Samyukta Socialist Party , Utkal Congress , Rashtriya Lok Tantric Dal, Punjab Khetibari Zhamindari Union, Haryan Sangash Samithi, according to GG Mirani: 320 million judges. Abhinav Publications 1977, p. 83.
- ↑ Many scoffers saw Indira and Sanjay Gandhi symbolized in it
- ^ A b c d e f Myron Weiner (Chairman, Department of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology): The Indian Elections - a Diary, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, June 1977.
- ^ A b c Myron Weiner: The 1977 Parliamentary Elections in India. Asian Survey, Vol. 17, No. 7 (Jul., 1977), pp. 619-626 JSTOR 2643409
- ↑ a b India. (PDF) www.ipu.org, accessed on July 19, 2014 (English).
- ↑ GG Mirchandani: 320 Million Judges. Abhinav Publications 1977, pp. 261/262
- ↑ India: The End of Fear. Der Spiegel, March 28, 1977, accessed July 29, 2014 .
- ^ Clemens Jürgensmeier: The 7th parliamentary elections in India (I): A triumphant victory for Indira Gandhi? International Asia Forum, Vol. 12 (1981), No. 1, pp. 5-33. Link to the full text
- ↑ GG Mirchandani: 320 Million Judges. Abhinav Publications 1977, pp. 190-192
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