1967 Indian general election

1967 Indian general election

← 1962 17–21 February 1967 1971 →

520 of the 523 seats in the Lok Sabha
261 seats needed for a majority
Registered250,207,401
Turnout61.04% (Increase 0.12 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the US enhanced.jpg
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari.jpg
Deendayal Upadhyaya 2018 stamp of India.jpg
Leader Indira Gandhi Chakravarti Rajagopalachari Deendayal Upadhyaya
Party INC SWA ABJS
Last election 44.72%, 361 seats 7.89%, 18 seats 6.44%, 14 seats
Seats won 283 44 35
Seat change Decrease 78 Increase 26 Increase 21
Popular vote 59,490,701 12,646,847 13,580,935
Percentage 40.78% 8.67% 9.31%
Swing Decrease 3.94pp Increase 0.78pp Increase 2.87pp

  Fourth party
 
S.A. Dange.jpg
Leader Shripad Amrit Dange
Party CPI
Last election 9.94%, 29 seats
Seats won 23
Seat change Decrease 6
Popular vote 7,458,396
Percentage 5.11%
Swing Decrease 4.83pp

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Indira Gandhi
INC

Prime Minister after election

Indira Gandhi
INC

General elections were held in India between 17 and 21 February 1967 to elect 520 of the 523 members of the fourth Lok Sabha, an increase of 15 from the previous session of Lok Sabha.[1] Elections to State Assemblies were also held simultaneously, the last general election to do so.

The incumbent Indian National Congress government retained power, albeit with a significantly reduced majority. Indira Gandhi was resworn in as the Prime Minister on 13 March.

Background

By 1967 economic growth in India had slowed – the 1961–1966 Five-Year Plan gave a target of 6% annual growth, but the actual growth rate was 2%. Under Lal Bahadur Shastri, the government's popularity was boosted after India prevailed in the 1965 War with Pakistan, but the war, along with the previous 1962 War with China, put a strain on the economy. Internal divisions were emerging in the Indian National Congress while its two popular leaders Nehru and Shastri had both died. Indira Gandhi had succeeded Shastri as leader, but a rift had emerged between her and Deputy Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who had been her rival in the 1966 party leadership contest.[2]

Results

The INC suffered setbacks in seven states, which included Gujarat, where INC won 11 out of 24 seats while Swatantra Party won 12 seats; Madras State, where INC won 3 out of 39 seats and DMK won 25 seats; Orissa, where they won 6 out of 20 seats and Swatantra Party won 8 seats. Rajasthan where they won 10 out of 20 seats Swatantra Party won 8 seats, West Bengal where they won 14 out of 40, Kerala where they won only 1 out of 19. Delhi where they won 1 out of 7 while remaining 6 were won by Bharatiya Jana Sangh.[1] The party was also ousted from power in nine states, while losing governance in Uttar Pradesh one month after the election.[3]

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Indian National Congress59,490,70140.78283–78
Bharatiya Jana Sangh13,580,9359.3135+21
Swatantra Party12,646,8478.6744+26
Communist Party of India7,458,3965.1123–6
Samyukta Socialist Party7,171,6274.9223New
Communist Party of India (Marxist)6,246,5224.2819New
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam5,529,4053.7925+18
Praja Socialist Party4,456,4873.0613+1
Republican Party of India3,607,7112.471–2
Bangla Congress1,204,3560.835New
Peasants and Workers Party of India1,028,7550.712+2
Akali Dal – Sant Fateh Singh968,7120.663New
All India Forward Bloc627,9100.4320
Indian Union Muslim League413,8680.2820
Kerala Congress321,2190.220New
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference210,0200.141New
Akali Dal – Tara Singh189,2900.130New
Jana Kranti Dal183,2110.131New
Jana Congress136,6310.090New
All Party Hill Leaders Conference112,4920.0810
United Goans – Seqveria Group100,1370.071New
Peoples Front42,7250.030New
Democratic National Conference30,7880.020New
United Goans – Furtadd Group1,7140.000New
Nagaland Nationalist Organisation00.001New
Independents20,106,05113.7835+15
Appointed members[a]3–11
Total145,866,510100.00523+15
Valid votes145,866,51095.51
Invalid/blank votes6,858,1014.49
Total votes152,724,611100.00
Registered voters/turnout250,207,40161.04
Source: ECI
  1. ^ Two representing Anglo-Indians and one representing the North-East Frontier Agency.

State wise

State
(# of seats)
Party Seats Contested Seats won % of votes
Andhra Pradesh(41) Indian National Congress 41 35 46.82
Swatantra Party 19 3 13.75
Communist Party Of India 22 1 12.62
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 9 0 6.2
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 4 0 1.0
Independent 63 2 18.52
Assam(14) Indian National Congress 14 10 45.84
Praja Socialist Party 4 2 12.80
Communist Party Of India 4 1 8.27
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 3 0 5.48
Independent 18 0 19.08
Bihar(53) Indian National Congress 53 34 34.81
Samyukta Socialist Party 34 7 17.83
Communist Party of India 17 5 9.93
Independent 99 4 13.95
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 48 1 11.05
Praja Socialist Party 32 1 7.38
Swatantra Party 25 0 3.41
Gujarat(24) Swatantra Party 21 12 39.92
Indian National Congress 24 11 46.92
Independent 28 1 9.51
Haryana(9) Indian National Congress 9 7 44.06
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 7 1 19.85
Independent 36 1 19.77
Swatantra Party 2 0 5.6
Samyukta Socialist Party 5 0 5.5
Jammu & Kashmir(6) Indian National Congress 6 5 50.52
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference 4 1 24.92
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 3 0 20.34
Kerala(19) Communist Party of India (Marxist) 9 9 24.56
Communist Party of India 3 3 7.99
Samyukta Socialist Party 3 3 8.24
Muslim League 2 2 6.6
Indian National Congress 19 1 36.15
Independent 12 1 7.36
Kerala Congress 5 0 5.12
Madhya Pradesh(37) Indian National Congress 37 24 40.78
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 32 10 29.56
Independent 61 2 13.65
Swatantra Party 2 1 2.74
Madras(39) Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 25 25 35.78
Swatantra Party 8 6 9.16
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 5 4 6.85
Indian National Congress 39 3 41.69
Independent 36 1 4.07
Maharashtra(45) Indian National Congress 45 37 48.51
Peasants And Workers Party Of India 11 2 7.54
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 7 2 5.14
Samyukta Socialist Party 5 2 3.74
Independent 62 1 11.45
Praja Socialist Party 8 1 2.55
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 26 0 7.36
Republican Party Of India 17 0 12.71
Mysore(27) Indian National Congress 27 18 49.02
Swatantra Party 11 5 14.29
Praja Socialist Party 5 2 5.12
Samyukta Socialist Party 2 1 2.61
Independent 45 1 22.0
Orissa(20) Swatantra Party 17 8 30.87
Indian National Congress 20 6 33.33
Praja Socialist Party 5 4 16.1
Samyukta Socialist Party 2 1 4.5
Independent 16 1 10.81
Punjab(13) Indian National Congress 13 9 37.31
Akali Dal – Sant Fateh Singh 8 3 22.61
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 8 1 12.49
Independent 25 0 9.32
Rajasthan(23) Indian National Congress 22 10 39.95
Swatantra Party 14 8 27.04
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 7 3 10.27
Independent 64 2 17.12
Uttar Pradesh(85) Indian National Congress 85 47 33.44
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 77 12 22.18
Samyukta Socialist Party 43 8 10.27
Independent 190 8 17.08
Communist Party of India 17 5 3.26
Praja Socialist Party 27 2 3.74
Swatantra Party 38 1 4.77
Republican Party Of India 24 1 4.07
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 6 1 1.19
West Bengal(40) Indian National Congress 40 14 39.69
Independent 44 7 15.28
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 16 5 15.65
Communist Party Of India 11 5 9.14
Bangla Congress 7 5 9.36
All India Forward Bloc 6 2 4.88
Praja Socialist Party 2 1 1.7
Samyukta Socialist Party 3 1 1.49
Source=ECI

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "General Election of India 1967, 4th Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  2. ^ "politics since independence". The Age. 2 June 1970. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  3. ^ Ananth, V. Krishna (22 February 2017). "Why 1967 general election was a watershed in Indian politics and the lessons it left behind". DNA India. Retrieved 3 December 2020.