1977 Indian general election

1977 Indian general election

← 1971 16–20 March 1977[1] 1980 →
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542 of the 544 seats in the Lok Sabha[a] 272 seats needed for a majority
Registered	321,174,327
Turnout	60.49% ( 5.22pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Morarji Desai Indira Gandhi Puchalapalli Sundarayya Party JP INC(R) CPI(M) Alliance JP+LF INC (R)+ JP+LF Last election 20.33%, 51 seats 43.68%, 352 seats 5.12%, 25 seats Seats won 295 154 22 Seat change 209 198 3 Popular vote 78,062,828 65,211,589 8,113,659 Percentage 41.32% 34.52% 4.29% Swing 20.99pp 9.16pp 0.83pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Indira Gandhi INC(R) Prime Minister after election Morarji Desai JP

General elections were held in India between 16 and 20 March 1977 to elect the members of the sixth Lok Sabha.^[2] The elections took place during the Emergency period, which expired on 21 March 1977, shortly before the final results were announced.^[1]

The elections resulted in a heavy defeat for the Indian National Congress (R), with the incumbent Prime Minister and INC(R) party leader Indira Gandhi losing her seat in Rae Bareli, while her son Sanjay lost his seat in Amethi.^[3] The call for restoration of democracy by revoking the Emergency is considered to be a major reason for the sweeping victory for the opposition Janata Alliance,^[4] whose leader Morarji Desai was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister of India on 24 March. At 81, Desai became the oldest man to be elected Prime Minister of India.

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