1967 Indian general election

1967 Indian general election

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520 of the 523 seats in the Lok Sabha [a] 261 seats needed for a majority
Registered	250,207,401
Turnout	61.04% ( 0.12pp)
First party Second party   Leader Indira Gandhi C. Rajagopalachari Party INC SWA Last election 44.72%, 361 seats 7.89%, 18 seats Seats won 283 44 Seat change 78 26 Popular vote 59,490,701 12,646,847 Percentage 40.78% 8.67% Swing 3.94pp 0.78pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Deendayal Upadhyaya Shripad Amrit Dange Party ABJS CPI Last election 6.44%, 14 seats 9.94%, 29 seats Seats won 35 23 Seat change 21 6 Popular vote 13,580,935 7,458,396 Percentage 9.31% 5.11% Swing 2.87pp 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 Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur 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]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	59,490,701	40.78	283	–78
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	13,580,935	9.31	35	+21
	Swatantra Party	12,646,847	8.67	44	+26
	Communist Party of India	7,458,396	5.11	23	–6
	Samyukta Socialist Party	7,171,627	4.92	23	New
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	6,246,522	4.28	19	New
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,529,405	3.79	25	+18
	Praja Socialist Party	4,456,487	3.06	13	+1
	Republican Party of India	3,607,711	2.47	1	–2
	Bangla Congress	1,204,356	0.83	5	New
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	1,028,755	0.71	2	+2
	Akali Dal – Sant Fateh Singh	968,712	0.66	3	New
	All India Forward Bloc	627,910	0.43	2	0
	Indian Union Muslim League	413,868	0.28	2	0
	Kerala Congress	321,219	0.22	0	New
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	210,020	0.14	1	New
	Akali Dal – Tara Singh	189,290	0.13	0	New
	Jana Kranti Dal	183,211	0.13	1	New
	Jana Congress	136,631	0.09	0	New
	All Party Hill Leaders Conference	112,492	0.08	1	0
	United Goans – Seqveria Group	100,137	0.07	1	New
	Peoples Front	42,725	0.03	0	New
	Democratic National Conference	30,788	0.02	0	New
	United Goans – Furtadd Group	1,714	0.00	0	New
	Nagaland Nationalist Organisation	0	0.00	1	New
	Independents	20,106,051	13.78	35	+15
Appointed members [b]				3	–11
Total		145,866,510	100.00	523	+15
Valid votes		145,866,510	95.51
Invalid/blank votes		6,858,101	4.49
Total votes		152,724,611	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		250,207,401	61.04
Source: ECI

1. Two seats were reserved for Anglo-Indians and one for the North-East Frontier Agency, which were filled by presidential nomination
2. 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

• List of members of the 4th Lok Sabha
• Election Commission of India
• 1967 Indian presidential election

References

1. "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. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. 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. Archived from the original on 12 July 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2020.