Presidential election in India 1977

Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Indian President 1977–80

The presidential election in India in 1977 was the seventh presidential election in India since independence. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy ( Janata Party ) was nominated as a consensus candidate for all political parties. He had no opponent and was declared elected on July 21, 1977.

prehistory

Voting weight of the representatives from the states

State	Voting weight
Andhra Pradesh	152
Assam	128
Bihar	174
Gujarat	147
Haryana	112
Himachal Pradesh	51
Jammu and Kashmir	83
Karnataka	136
Kerala	152
Madhya Pradesh	130
Maharashtra	187
Manipur	18th
Meghalaya	17th
Nagaland	9
Orissa	149
Punjab	116
Rajasthan	129
Sikkim	7th
Tamil Nadu	176
Tripura	26th
Uttar Pradesh	208
West Bengal	151

The election was an early election and became necessary because the previous incumbent Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed ( Congress Party ) suddenly died in office on February 11, 1977. He was elected in 1974 and his term of office would normally have lasted until 1979. After his unexpected death, Vice President BD Jatti initially took over the office. The election of the new president could not be started immediately because India was in a state of political upheaval. On January 18, 1977, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced a relaxation of the state of emergency that had been in place for more than 19 months and at the same time announced March 16 to 20, 1977 as the date for new elections for Lok Sabha . This election ended with a heavy defeat for Indira Gandhi's Congress Party and a victory for the opposition Janata Party, which subsequently formed the government. This was followed by elections to the parliaments in 11 federal states in June / July 1977, which were also largely won by the Janata Party.

The Janata Party sought a consensus candidate for the presidency, who should have the approval of all parties, and found him in the person of 64-year-old Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, who was supported in the election by all parties, including the Congress party . Reddy, a politician from Andhra Pradesh , had already been one of the candidates in the 1969 presidential election (then still the Congress party), but lost. In the parliamentary elections in 1977 he was the only candidate of the Janata Party in Andhra Pradesh in the constituency 27-Nandyal successful. After the election, he became the spokesman ( speaker ) in the Lok Sabha elected.

Election mode and choice

See also : Electoral College (India)

The Electoral College was formally composed of 524 MPs from the Lok Sabha, 232 MPs from the Rajya Sabha and 3,776 MPs from the parliaments of the 22 federal states . It comprised a total of 4532 members. The voting weight of the delegates from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was 702, that of the delegates from the states varied between 7 (for Sikkim ) and 208 (for Uttar Pradesh ). The basis for calculating the voting weights was the 1971 census. On July 4, 1977, the election date was announced and candidacies could be registered until July 18, 1977. A total of 41 proposals for 37 candidates were submitted. 15 of them were immediately rejected due to formal deficiencies (e.g. failure to meet the deadline). The remaining 26 nominations (4 of them for Reddy) were examined on July 19, 1977. 22 candidates were disqualified due to formal deficiencies (e.g. failure to pay the required fee, insufficient number of supporters, lack of certification, etc.). so that Reddy was the only one left. According to the previously announced election regulations, candidates had until July 21, 1977 to withdraw their candidacy. Reddy did not withdraw his candidacy and was therefore declared elected on July 21, 1977. The normally required publication of the candidate lists was no longer necessary.

Reddy is the only Indian president so far who was elected without a candidate.

Web links

• Election to the Office of the President 2012. (PDF) Indian Election Commission, 2012, accessed on March 27, 2015 (English, detailed explanation of the election process based on the 2012 election). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} J. K. Chopra: Politics of Election Reforms in India. Mittal Publications, Delhi 1989, ISBN 81-7099-103-X , pp. 129/130.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Election to the Office of the President 2012. (PDF) Indian Election Commission, 2012, accessed on March 27, 2015 (English, detailed explanation of the election procedure based on the 2012 election). 
3. ↑ Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. indiapicks.com, accessed April 4, 2015 .