India - 6th Lok Sabha 1977

6th Lok Sabha 1977

The state of Emergency declared by the Congress 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 extremely unpopular for her decision and paid for it during the elections. Gandhi, on January 23, called fresh elections for March and released all political prisoners. Four Opposition parties, the Organisation Congress, the Jan Sangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Socialist Party, decided to fight the elections as a single party, called the Janata Party.

The Janata Party reminded voters of excesses and human rights violations during the Emergency, like compulsory sterilisation and imprisonment of political leaders. The Janata campaign said the elections would decide whether India would have "democracy or dictatorship." The Congress looked jittery: Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram quit the party, and he was one among many.

The Congress tried to woo voters by speaking about the need for a strong government but the tide was against it.

The Congress lost the elections for the first time in independent India and Janata Party leader Morarji Desai, who had been released from prison two months before the elections, won 298 seats. Desai became India's first non-Congress Prime Minister on March 24.

The Congress lost nearly 200 seats. Indira Gandhi, who had been in government since 1966, and her son Sanjay both lost elections.

Dates: 23/03/1977-22/08/1979

Speaker Shri N.Sanjiva Reddy 26/3/1977 -13/7/1977 Shri K.S.Hegde 21/7/1977 -21/1/1980 Deputy Speaker Shri Godey Murahari 1/4/1977 -22/8/1979 Secretary-General Shri Avtar Singh Rikhy 18/06/1977-22/08/1979 Shri S. L.Shakdher 23/03/1977-18/06/1977