General elections were held inIndia between 16 and 20 March 1977 to elect the members of thesixthLok Sabha.[2] The elections took place duringthe Emergency period, which expired on 21 March 1977, shortly before the final results were announced.[1]
The elections resulted in a heavy defeat for theIndian National Congress (R), with the incumbentPrime Minister and INC(R) party leaderIndira Gandhi losing her seat inRae Bareli, while her sonSanjay lost his seat inAmethi.[3] An attempt at an auto-coup failed andMorarji Desai of theJanata Party took office as the first non-Congress Prime Minister on 24 March. The call for restoration of democracy by revoking the Emergency is considered to be a major reason for the sweeping victory for the oppositionJanata Alliance,[4] At 81, Desai became the oldest man to be elected Prime Minister of India.
The Emergency declared by the Indira Gandhi led Congress(R) government was the core issue in the 1977 elections. Civil liberties were suspended during the national emergency from 25 June 1975 to 21 March 1977 and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assumed vast powers.
Gandhi had become unpopular for her decision and paid for it during the elections. On 18 January, Gandhi called for fresh elections and released somepolitical prisoners. Many remained in prison until she was ousted from office and a new prime minister took over.[6] On 20 January, four opposition parties, theIndian National Congress (Organisation), theBharatiya Jana Sangh, theBharatiya Lok Dal and thePraja Socialist Party, decided to fight the elections under a single banner called the Janata alliance.[1] The alliance used the symbol allocated to Bhartiya Lok Dal as their symbol on the ballot papers.
The Janata Alliance reminded voters of the excesses and human rights violations during the Emergency, like compulsorysterilisation and imprisonment of political leaders. The Janata campaign said the elections would decide whether India would have "democracy or dictatorship."[7] The Congress(R) looked jittery. Agriculture and Irrigation Minister BabuJagjivan Ram quit the party in the first week of February; other notable Congress(R) stalwarts who crossed the floor with Jagjivan Ram before the election wereHemvati Nandan Bahuguna andNandini Satpathy.
The elections in India's largest stateUttar Pradesh, historically a Congress(R) stronghold, turned against Gandhi. Dhanagare says the structural reasons included the emergence of a strong and united opposition, disunity and weariness within the Congress(R), an effective opposition and the failure of Gandhi in controlling the mass media, which was under censorship during the Emergency. The structural factors allowed voters to express their grievances, notably their resentment of the emergency and its authoritarian and repressive policies. One grievance often mentioned was the 'Nasbandi' (vasectomy) campaign in rural areas. The middle class also emphasised on the curbing of freedom of speech throughout the country.[8]
Meanwhile, Congress(R) hit an all-time low inWest Bengal, according to the Gangulys, because of the state-sponsoredanti-Communist violence against the cadres ofCPI(M) &Naxalites by the government ofSiddhartha Shankar Ray,whose legitimacy was questionable, poor discipline and factionalism among Congress(R) activists as well as numerous defections that weakened the party. Opponents emphasised the issues of corruption within the Congress(R) and appealed to a deep desire by the voters for fresh leadership.[9] The Congress(R), however, did well in southern states ofTamil Nadu,Karnataka,Kerala andAndhra Pradesh. The results were mixed in the western states ofMaharashtra andGujarat, although the Janata alliance won all the seats inMumbai.
It was not clear if Indira would accept the election results. Although she publicly claimed she would "abide" by the results, behind the scenes, she fired Military Intelligence Head Mani Mishra in favour of loyalist Kashmiri Hardayal Kaul. The INC(R) and senior military officers held several meetings in New Delhi, raising suspicions.[10]Chief of the Army StaffT.N. Raina (who had only been appointed because Indira had superseded senior officers to appoint him) was invited for a discussion by Indira and Sanjay Gandhi. Sanjay reportedly told Raina "There are about 300 districts in the country. One infantry platoon is sufficient to control each district... Thus we can control India by deploying 300 platoons or about 25 infantry battalions; a mere three or four divisions. The party [the Congress], supported by paramilitary forces and the police, can deal with other administrative details." Although Indira agreed with Sanjay's plan, Raina refused to follow the plan, despite noting Sanjay's assumptions were "mathematically correct".[10]
^Two seats were reserved forAnglo-Indians and filled by presidential nomination
^The Janata Party was a broad electoral alliance whose constituent parties maintained their organization. Desai was a member, and the leader of, theINC(O)
Guha, Ramachandra.India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy (2008) pp 491–518
Klieman, Aaron S. "Indira's India: Democracy and Crisis Government,"Political Science Quarterly (1981) 96#2 pp. 241–259in JSTOR
Roy, Ramashray; Sheth, D. L. "The 1977 Lok Sabha Election Outcome: The Salience of Changing Voter Alignments Since 1969,"Political Science Review (1978), Vol. 17 Issue 3/4, pp 51–63
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