1980 Indian general election

India held general elections to the 7th Lok Sabha in January 1980. The Janata Party alliance came into power after the elections to the 6th Lok Sabha held in 1977, riding the public anger against the Congress and the Emergency but its position was weak. The loose coalition barely held on to a majority with only 295 seats in the Lok Sabha and never quite had a firm grip on power.

1980 Indian general election

3 and 6 January 1980

All 542 seats in the Lok Sabha
272 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout56.92%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Indira Gandhi Charan Singh Chandra Shekhar
Party INC JP(S) JP
Alliance INC+ Lok Dal (Janata Secular) Lok Dal (Janata Secular)
Leader's seat Medak Baghpat Ballia
Seats won 374 41 31
Seat change 185 41 264
Percentage 42.69% 9.39% 18.97%
Swing 8.17% New 32.92%


Prime Minister before election

Charan Singh
Lok Dal (Janata Secular)

Subsequent Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi
INC+

Bharatiya Lok Dal leader Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram, who had quit the Congress, were members of the Janata alliance but they were at loggerheads with Prime Minister Morarji Desai. The tribunals the government had set up to investigate human rights abuses during the Emergency appeared vindictive.

Finally, the Janata Party, an amalgam of socialists and nationalists, split in 1979 when several coalition members such as the Bharatiya Lok Dal plus several members of the erstwhile Socialist Party withdrew support to the government. Subsequently, Desai lost a trust vote in parliament and resigned. Charan Singh, who had retained some partners of the Janata alliance, was sworn in as Prime Minister in June 1979. Congress promised to support Singh in parliament but later backed out just two days before the Govt was scheduled to prove its majority on the floor of Lok Sabha. Charan Singh, forced to resign, called for elections in January 1980 and is the only Prime Minister of India never to have faced parliament. In the run up to the general elections, Indira Gandhi's leadership faced a formidable political challenge from a galaxy of regional satraps and prominent [1] leaders of Janta party like Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Karpuri Thakur in Bihar, Ramakrishna Hegde in Karnataka, Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, Devi Lal in Haryana & Biju Patnaik in Orissa. Janata Party contested the election with Jagjivan Ram as its Prime Ministerial candidate. [2] However, internal feud between Janata Party leaders and the political instability in the country worked in favour of Indira Gandhi's Congress (I), that reminded voters of the strong government of Indira Gandhi during campaigning.

In the ensuing elections, the Congress (I) won 353 Lok Sabha seats in January 1980 and the Janata Party, or what remained of the alliance, won only 31 seats, whereas Charan Singh's Janata Party (Secular) won 41 seats. The Janata Party alliance continued to split over the subsequent years but it had recorded in 1977 a few important landmarks in the political history of India: it was the first coalition to govern India.

Results

Party Votes % Seats +/–
Indian National Congress (Indira)84,455,31342.69353+200
Janata Party37,530,22818.9731–264
Janata Party (Secular)18,574,6969.3941New
Communist Party of India (Marxist)12,352,3316.2437+15
Indian National Congress (Urs)10,449,8595.2813New
Communist Party of India4,927,3422.4910+3
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam4,674,0642.362–16
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam4,236,5372.1416+14
Shiromani Akali Dal1,396,4120.711–8
Revolutionary Socialist Party1,285,5170.6540
All India Forward Bloc1,011,5640.513+1
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference493,1430.253+1
Indian Union Muslim League475,5070.2430
Peasants and Workers Party470,5670.240–5
Republican Party of India (Khobragade)383,0220.190–2
Kerala Congress356,9970.1810
Republican Party of India351,9870.1800
Socialist Unity Centre of India307,2240.1600
Jharkhand Party254,5200.131+1
All India Muslim League196,8200.100New
United Democratic Front140,2100.070–1
Shiv Sena129,3510.070New
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party127,1880.0610
Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti111,9530.0600
Peoples Party of Arunachal69,8100.040New
Akhil Bharatiya Ramrajya Parishad61,1610.0300
Peoples Conference53,8910.030New
Manipur Peoples Party49,2770.0200
Bharatiya Socialist Party39,3990.020New
Shoshit Samaj Dal (Akhil Bharatiya)38,2260.0200
Sikkim Janata Parishad31,7500.021New
Muslim Majlis26,3630.010New
All India Labour Party14,7200.0100
All Party Hill Leaders Conference13,0580.010New
Sikkim Congress (Revolutionary)11,6320.010New
Sikkim Prajatantra Congress5,1250.000New
Independents12,717,5106.4390
Invalid/blank votes4,928,619
Total 202,752,893100529–13
Registered voters/turnout356,205,32956.92
Source EIC

See also

References

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