Indian general election, 1971

March 1–10, 1971^[1]

All 518 seats in the Lok Sabha 260 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Indira Gandhi	Morarji Desai
Party	INC (R)	NCO
Alliance	INC (R)	NDF
Leader's seat	Rae Bareli	Surat
Seats won	352	51
Seat change	+73	-65
Percentage	43.68	24.34

Prime Minister before election

Indira Gandhi
INC

Elected Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi
INC (R)

India held general elections to the 5th Lok Sabha in March 1971. This was the fifth election since independence in 1947. The 27 Indian states and union territories were represented by 518 constituencies, each with a single seat.^[2] Under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the Indian National Congress (R) led a campaign which focussed on reducing poverty and won a landslide victory, overcoming a split in the party and regaining many of the seats lost in the previous election.

During her previous term, there had been internal divisions in the Indian National Congress between Indira Gandhi and the party establishment, especially Indian National Congress (Organization) party. Despite the split, the Ruling faction gained votes and seats to win a strong majority, whereas the Organization faction lost half of their seats.

On 12 June 1975, the Allahabad High Court invalidated the result in Gandhi's constituency on the grounds of electoral malpractices. Instead of resigning, Indira Gandhi called a state of emergency, suspending democracy and outlawed political opposition. After democracy was restored in 1977, the opposition Congress faction formed a coalition of parties called the Janata Party, which would go on to inflict the Congress' first electoral defeat.

1 Results
- 1.1 Results by alliance
- 1.2 Results by Party
2 See also
3 References

Results

Results by alliance

**Summary of the 1971 March Lok Sabha** election results of India
**Sources: [1][2]**
Alliances	Party	Seats won	Change	Popular Votes %
Indian National Congress (R) Seats: 350 Seat Change: +93 Popular Vote %: 43.68	Indian National Congress (R)	352	+93	43.68
National Democratic Front (Alliance) Seats: 51 Seat Change: -65 Popular Vote %: 24.34	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	16	−17	10.43
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	22	-22	7.37
	Swatantra Party	8	-15	3.07
	Samyukta Socialist Party	3	-10	2.43
	Praja Socialist Party	2	-17	1.04
Left Parties Seats: 48 Popular Vote %: 9.86	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	25	-6	5.13
Left Parties Seats: 48 Popular Vote %: 9.86	Communist Party of India	23	—	4.73
Others Seats: 66 Popular Vote %: 22.14	Others	67	-12	22.16

Results by Party

Lok Sabha elections 1971 Electoral participation: 55,27%		%	Won (total 545)
Bharatiya Jana Sangh	BJS	7.35	22
Communist Party of India	CPI	4.37	23
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	CPI(M)	5.12	25
Indian National Congress (R)	INC(R)	43.68	352
Indian National Congress (Organization)	INC(O)	10.43	16
Praja Socialist Party	PSP	1.04	2
Samyukta Socialist Party	SSP	2.43	3
Swatantra Party	SP	3.07	8
All Party Hill Leaders Conference	APHLC	0.06	1
All India Forward Bloc	AIFB	0.66	2
Bangla Congress	BC	0.35	1
Bharatiya Kranti Dal	BKD	2.18	1
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	DMK	3.84	23
Indian Union Muslim League	IUML	0.28	2
Jana Congress	JC	0.04	0
Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party	JP	0.09	0
Kerala Congress	KC	0.37	3
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	MGP	0.04	0
Naga Nationalist Organisation	NNO	0.04	0
Peasants and Workers Party of India	PWPI	0.51	0
Revolutionary Socialist Party	RSP	0.49	3
Shiromani Akali Dal	SAD	0.87	1
United Front of Nagaland	UFN	0.06	1
United Goans (Sequiera Group)	UG(S)	0.04	1
Vishal Haryana	VH	0.24	1
Jharkhand Party	JP	0.19	1
Republican Party of India	RPI	0.1	1
Telangana Praja Samithi	TPS	1.28	10
Utkal Congress	UC	0.72	1
Independents	-	8.38	14
Nominated Anglo-Indians	-	-	2

References

^ http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/INDIA_1971_E.PDF
^ "General Election of India 1971, 5th Lok Sabha". Election Commission of India. p. 6. Retrieved 2010-01-13.

Elections in India

General elections	1920 1923 1926 1930 1934 1945 1951–52 1957 1962 1967 1971 1977 1980 1984 1989 1991 1996 1998 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019

State elections	1920 1923 1926 1930 1934 1937 1946 1952 1954 1955 1957 1960 1961 1962 1964 1965 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1974 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

See also: Elections in Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal

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Indian general election, 1971