Indian general election, 1980

Indian general election, 1980

January 3 and 6, 1980
All 542 seats in the Lok Sabha 272 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Indira Gandhi Charan Singh Party INC(I) JNP(S) Alliance INC+ Lok Dal (Janata Secular) Leader's seat Medak Baghpat Seats won 374 41 Seat change 286 36 Percentage 42.69% 9.39% Swing 1.71% New
Prime Minister before election Charan Singh Lok Dal (Janata Secular) Elected Prime Minister Indira Gandhi INC+

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.

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 and a witch-hunt against Congress leader Indira Gandhi, who lost no opportunity of portraying herself as a harassed woman.

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. The fight 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, and proved that the Congress could be defeated.

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
Indian National Congress (Indira)	84,455,313	42.69	353	+200
Janata Party	37,530,228	18.97	31	–264
Janata Party (Secular)	18,574,696	9.39	41	New
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	12,352,331	6.24	37	+15
Indian National Congress (Urs)	10,449,859	5.28	13	New
Communist Party of India	4,927,342	2.49	10	+3
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4,674,064	2.36	2	–16
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4,236,537	2.14	16	+14
Shiromani Akali Dal	1,396,412	0.71	1	–8
Revolutionary Socialist Party	1,285,517	0.65	4	0
All India Forward Bloc	1,011,564	0.51	3	+1
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	493,143	0.25	3	+1
Indian Union Muslim League	475,507	0.24	2	0
Peasants and Workers Party	470,567	0.24	0	–5
Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	383,022	0.19	0	–2
Kerala Congress	356,997	0.18	1	0
Republican Party of India	351,987	0.18	0	0
Socialist Unity Centre of India	307,224	0.16	0	0
Jharkhand Party	254,520	0.13	1	+1
All India Muslim League	196,820	0.10	0	New
United Democratic Front	140,210	0.07	0	–1
Shiv Sena	129,351	0.07	0	New
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	127,188	0.06	1	0
Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti	111,953	0.06	0	0
Peoples Party of Arunachal	69,810	0.04	0	New
Akhil Bharatiya Ramrajya Parishad	61,161	0.03	0	0
Peoples Conference	53,891	0.03	0	New
Manipur Peoples Party	49,277	0.02	0	0
Bharatiya Socialist Party	39,399	0.02	0	New
Shoshit Samaj Dal (Akhil Bharatiya)	38,226	0.02	0	0
Sikkim Janata Parishad	31,750	0.02	1	New
Muslim Majlis	26,363	0.01	0	New
All India Labour Party	14,720	0.01	0	0
All Party Hill Leaders Conference	13,058	0.01	0	New
Sikkim Congress (Revolutionary)	11,632	0.01	0	New
Sikkim Prajatantra Congress	5,125	0.00	0	New
Independents	12,717,510	6.43	9	0
Invalid/blank votes	4,928,619	–	–	–
Total	202,752,893	100	529	–13
Registered voters/turnout	356,205,329	56.92	–	–
Source EIC

See also

• State Assembly elections in India, 1980
• Election Commission of India
• Indian presidential election, 1977