1980 Indian general election

General elections were held in India on 3 and 6 January 1980 to elect the members of the 7th Lok Sabha. The Janata Party alliance came into power in the 1977 general elections amidst public anger with the Indian National Congress (R) and the Emergency. However, 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 leaders Charan Singh and Jagjivan Ram, who had quit the Congress, were members of the Janata alliance but were at loggerheads with Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

1980 Indian general election

← 1977 3 and 6 January 1980 1984 →
← outgoing members elected members →
529 of the 531 seats in the Lok Sabha[a] 265 seats needed for a majority
Registered	356,205,329
Turnout	56.92% ( 5.55pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Indira Gandhi Charan Singh E. M. S. Namboodiripad Party INC(I) JP(S) CPI(M) Alliance INC (I)+ LF Last election 34.52%, 154 seats – 4.29%, 22 seats Seats won 353 41 37 Seat change 199 New 15 Popular vote 84,455,313 18,574,696 12,352,331 Percentage 42.69% 9.39% 6.24% Swing 8.17pp New 1.95pp   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Jagjivan Ram A. K. Antony Party JP INC(U) Alliance JP+ Last election 41.32%, 295 seats – Seats won 31 13 Seat change 264 New Popular vote 37,530,228 10,449,859 Percentage 18.97% 5.28% Swing 22.35pp New
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Charan Singh JP(S) Prime Minister after election Indira Gandhi INC(I)

The Janata Party, an amalgam of socialists and Hindu nationalists, split in 1979 when several coalition members including the Bharatiya Lok Dal of Charan Singh and several members of the Socialist Party withdrew support for the government. Subsequently, Desai lost a vote of confidence in parliament and resigned. Charan Singh, who had retained some partners of the Janata alliance, was sworn in as prime minister in June 1979. The Indian National Congress (Indira), which succeeded the Indian National Congress (Requisition) from 1978 promised to support Singh in parliament but later backed out just two days before the Government 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 obtained the confidence of Parliament. In the run up to the general elections, Indira Gandhi's leadership faced a formidable political challenge from a galaxy of regional satraps and prominent leaders of Janata party like Satyendra Narayan Sinha and Karpuri Thakur in Bihar, Ramakrishna Hegde in Karnataka, Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, Devi Lal in Haryana & Biju Patnaik in Orissa. Janata Party contested the election with Jagjivan Ram as its prime ministerial candidate.^[1][2] However, internal feud 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 INC(I) won 353 seats and the Janata Party just 31 seats, with Charan Singh's Janata Party (Secular) taking 41. The Janata Party alliance continued to split over the subsequent years.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress (Indira)	84,455,313	42.69	353	+199
	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	0
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	493,143	0.25	3	+1
	Indian Union Muslim League	475,507	0.24	2	0
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	470,567	0.24	0	–5
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	383,022	0.19	0	–2
	Kerala Congress	356,997	0.18	1	–1
	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	0
	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
	People's Party of Arunachal	69,810	0.04	0	New
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	61,161	0.03	0	0
	Peoples Conference	53,891	0.03	0	New
	Manipur Peoples Party	49,277	0.02	0	0
	Indian 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
Appointed Anglo-Indians				2	0
Total		197,824,274	100.00	531	–13
Valid votes		197,824,274	97.57
Invalid/blank votes		4,928,619	2.43
Total votes		202,752,893	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		356,205,329	56.92
Source: ECI

See also

• List of members of the 7th Lok Sabha
• Election Commission of India
• 1977 Indian presidential election

Notes

1. Two seats were reserved for Anglo-Indians and filled by presidential nomination

References

1. Chawla, Prabhu (30 September 2013). "As general elections loom large, new four-party United Front formed to counter Cong(I)". India Today. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
2. Jagjivan Ram: Most experienced artful dodger of Indian politics Archived 13 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine India Today, 23 December 2014