1977 Indian General Election
The post-Emergency verdict16–20 March 1977 · The Congress system tested · 542 seats, 272 for a majority
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. Morarji Desai of the Janata Party took office as the first non-Congress Prime Minister on 24 March.
Prime Minister before
Indira Gandhi
INC(R)
Prime Minister after
Morarji Desai
JP
Largest force
Janata Party
295 of 542 seats
Turnout
60.5%
The result
| Share of the Lok Sabha | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Janata Party | JP+LF | Morarji Desai | 295 | +209 | 7,80,62,828 | 41.3% | +21.0 | |
| Indian National Congress (R) | INC (R)+ | Indira Gandhi | 154 | +198 | 6,52,11,589 | 34.5% | -9.2 | |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | JP+LF | Puchalapalli Sundarayya | 22 | +3 | 81,13,659 | 4.3% | -0.8 | |
| All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | — | — | 18 | — | 54,80,378 | 2.9% | — | |
| Independents | — | — | 9 | +5 | 1,03,93,617 | 5.5% | — | |
| Shiromani Akali Dal | — | — | 9 | +8 | 23,73,331 | 1.3% | — | |
| Communist Party of India | — | — | 7 | +16 | 53,22,088 | 2.8% | — | |
| Peasants and Workers Party of India | — | — | 5 | +5 | 10,30,232 | 0.6% | — |
23 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.