1984 Indian general election

General elections were held in India on 24, 27 and 28 December 1984 soon after the assassination of previous Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, though the vote in Assam and Punjab was delayed until 1985 due to ongoing insurgency.

1984 Indian general election

← 1980 24, 27 and 28 December 1984 1989 →
← outgoing members elected members →
541 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha 271 seats needed for a majority
Registered	400,375,333
Turnout	64.01% ( 7.09pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Rajiv Gandhi N. T. Rama Rao E. M. S. Namboodiripad Party INC(I) TDP CPI(M) Alliance LF Last election 42.69%, 353 seats – 6.24%, 37 seats Seats won 414 30 22 Seat change 61 New 15 Popular vote 120,107,044 10,132,859 13,809,950 Percentage 46.86% 4.31% 5.87% Swing 4.17pp New 0.37pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Chandra Shekhar Charan Singh L. K. Advani Party JP LKD BJP Last election 18.97%, 31 seats New New Seats won 10 3 2 Seat change 21 New New Popular vote 16,210,514 14,040,064 18,202,853 Percentage 6.89% 5.97% 7.74% Swing 12.08pp New New
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Rajiv Gandhi INC(I) Prime Minister after election Rajiv Gandhi INC(I)

The elections were a landslide victory for the Indian National Congress (Indira) of Rajiv Gandhi (son of Indira Gandhi), which won 404 of the 514 seats elected in 1984 and a further 10 in the delayed elections. The Telugu Desam Party of N. T. Rama Rao, a regional political party from the state of Andhra Pradesh, was the second largest party, winning 30 seats, thus achieving the distinction of becoming the first regional party to become a national opposition party. AIADMK of Tamil Nadu contested the election in alliance with the INC (I), and won 12 seats.^[1]

Voting was held immediately after the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in November and most of the Indian voters supported Congress (Indira) due to a heavy outpouring of public grief at Gandhi's death.

The 1984 elections were the last in which a single party won a majority of seats until 2014, and the only time to date in which a party won more than 400 seats.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress (Indira)	115,478,267	49.10	404
	Bharatiya Janata Party	18,202,853	7.74	2
	Janata Party	16,210,514	6.89	10
	Lokdal	14,040,064	5.97	3
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	13,809,950	5.87	22
	Telugu Desam Party	10,132,859	4.31	30
	Communist Party of India	6,363,430	2.71	6
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,695,179	2.42	2
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	3,968,967	1.69	12
	Indian Congress (Socialist)	3,577,377	1.52	4
	Indian National Congress (Jagjivan)	1,511,515	0.64	1
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	1,173,869	0.50	3
	All India Forward Bloc	1,055,556	0.45	2
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	1,010,243	0.43	3
	Indian Union Muslim League	658,821	0.28	2
	Kerala Congress (Joseph)	598,113	0.25	2
	Doordarshi Party	508,426	0.22	0
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	463,963	0.20	1
	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	332,403	0.14	0
	Kerala Congress	258,591	0.11	0
	All India Muslim League	224,155	0.10	0
	Gandhi Kamraj National Congress	217,104	0.09	0
	Socialist Unity Centre of India	196,767	0.08	0
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	165,320	0.07	0
	Manipur Peoples Party	149,019	0.06	0
	Tamil Nadu Congress (K)	144,076	0.06	0
	Naga National Democratic Party	113,919	0.05	0
	Jammu & Kashmir Panthers Party	95,149	0.04	0
	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	83,122	0.04	0
	People's Party of Arunachal	78,455	0.03	0
	Republican Party of India	22,877	0.01	0
	Jharkhand Party	18,837	0.01	0
	Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Conference	646	0.00	0
	Independents	18,623,803	7.92	5
Appointed Anglo-Indians				2
Total		235,184,209	100.00	516
Valid votes		235,184,209	97.49
Invalid/blank votes		6,062,678	2.51
Total votes		241,246,887	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		379,540,608	63.56
Source: ECI

Delayed elections in Assam and Punjab

Results from 1985

The elections in Punjab were held in September 1985 after the signing of the Rajiv–Longowal Accord between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Akali leader Harchand Singh Longowal on 24 July 1985. The elections were held alongside elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly.^[2] In Assam elections were held in December 1985 after the signing of the Assam Accord in August 1985.^[2]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress (Indira)	4,628,777	32.14	10
	Shiromani Akali Dal	2,577,279	17.90	7
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	462,576	3.21	0
	Indian Congress (Socialist)	457,705	3.18	1
	Communist Party of India	369,687	2.57	0
	Plain Tribals Council of Assam	310,150	2.15	1
	Bharatiya Janata Party	263,284	1.83	0
	Janata Party	420,082	2.92	0
	Lokdal	46,627	0.32	0
	Independents	4,864,958	33.78	8
Total		14,401,125	100.00	27
Valid votes		14,401,125	95.70
Invalid/blank votes		646,951	4.30
Total votes		15,048,076	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		20,834,725	72.23
Source: ECI

See also

• List of members of the 8th Lok Sabha
• Election Commission of India
• 1982 Indian presidential election

References

1. Kumaresan, S. (4 March 2019). "AIADMK- Congress combine ride on sympathy wave in 1984". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
2. Narain, Iqbal (1986). "India in 1985: Triumph of Democracy". Asian Survey. 26 (2): 253–269. doi:10.2307/2644461.