1985 elections in India

Last updated June 28, 2025

Elections in the Republic of India in 1985 included elections to fourteen state legislative assemblies.

Overall Result

Date(s)	State		Chief Minister before		Elected Chief Minister
3 February 1985	Madhya Pradesh	Indian National Congress	Arjun Singh	Indian National Congress	Arjun Singh
3 February 1985	Uttar Pradesh	Indian National Congress	Narayan Dutt Tiwari	Indian National Congress	Narayan Dutt Tiwari
5 March 1985	Andhra Pradesh	Telugu Desam Party	N. T. Rama Rao	Telugu Desam Party	N. T. Rama Rao
5 March 1985	Gujarat	Indian National Congress	Madhav Singh Solanki	Indian National Congress	Madhav Singh Solanki
2 and 5 March 1985	Bihar	Indian National Congress	Chandrashekhar Singh	Indian National Congress	Bindeshwari Dubey
2 and 5 March 1985	Maharashtra	Indian National Congress	Vasantdada Patil	Indian National Congress	Vasantdada Patil
	Himachal Pradesh	Indian National Congress	Virbhadra Singh	Indian National Congress	Virbhadra Singh
	Karnataka	Janata Party	Ramakrishna Hegde	Janata Party	Ramakrishna Hegde
3 May 1985	Pondicherry	President's Rule		Indian National Congress	M. O. H. Farook
	Rajasthan	Indian National Congress	Hari Dev Joshi	Indian National Congress	Hari Dev Joshi
	Sikkim	President's Rule		Sikkim Sangram Parishad	Nar Bahadur Bhandari
26 September 1985	Punjab	President's Rule		Shiromani Akali Dal	Surjith Singh Barnala
	Odisha	Indian National Congress	Janaki Ballabh Patnaik	Indian National Congress	Janaki Ballabh Patnaik
	Assam	Indian National Congress	Hiteswar Saikia	Independent	Prafulla Kumar Mahanta

Legislative Assembly elections

Andhra Pradesh

No	Party	Seats Contested	Seats Won	Seats change	Vote Share	Swing
1	Telugu Desam Party	250	202	+1	46.21%	-7.50%
2	Indian National Congress	290	50	-10	37.25%	+3.67%
3	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	12	11	+6	2.31%	+0.20%
4	Communist Party of India	12	11	+7	2.69%	-0.10%
5	Bharatiya Janata Party	10	8	+3	1.32%	-1.14%
6	Janata Party	5	3	+2	0.76%	-0.20%

Assam

Pos		Contested	Seats	Swing
1	Independent	104	92	82
2	Indian National Congress	125	25	66
3	Indian Congress (Socialist)	72	4	2
4	Plain Tribals Council of Assam	28	3	-
5	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	39	2	-
	Total		126

Bihar

Party	Seats Contested	Seats Won	Popular Vote	Percentage
Indian National Congress	323	196	9,558,562	39.30%
Lok Dal	261	46	3,573,173	14.69%
Bharatiya Janata Party	234	16	1,833,275	7.54%
Janata Party	229	13	1,754,705	7.21%
Communist Party of India	167	12	2,154,066	8.86%
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	57	9	443,822	1.82%
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	44	1	392,375	1.61%
Indian Congress (Socialist)	59	1	160,159	0.66%
Socialist Unity Centre of India	1	1	17,890	0.07%
Independents	2804	29	4,349,057	17.88%
Total	4237	324	24,323,868

Source:^[1]

Gujarat

Parties and coalitions	Popular vote		Seats
Parties and coalitions	Votes	%	Won	+/−
Indian National Congress (INC)	5,122,753	55.55	149	+8
Janata Party	1,775,338	19.25	14	-7
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)	1,379,120	14.96	11	+2
Independents (IND)	856,160	9.28	8
CPM	16,543	0.18	0	0
CPI	24,013	0.26	0	0

Total	9,221,149	100.00	182	±0

Valid votes	7,770,198	98.03
Invalid votes	155,782	1.97
Votes cast / turnout	13,676,131	51.59
Registered voters	15,363,762

Himachal Pradesh

Rank	Party	Seats Contested	Seats won	% votes
1	Indian National Congress	68	58	55.86
2	Bharatiya Janata Party	57	7	35.87
3	Independent	68	2	8.28
4	Lok Dal	3	1	1.44
	Total		68

Source:^[2]

Karnataka

Summary of results of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election, 1985^[3]
Political Party	Seats Contested	Seats Won	Number of Votes	% of Votes	Seat change
Janata Party	205	139	6,418,795	43.60%	44
Indian National Congress	223	65	6,009,461	40.82%	17
Communist Party of India	7	3	133,008	0.90%
Bharatiya Janata Party	116	2	571,280	3.88%	16
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	7	2	127,333	0.86%	1
Independents	1200	13	1,393,626	9.47%	9
Total	1795	224	14,720,634

Madhya Pradesh

Source:^[4]

SN	Party	Seats Contested	Seats won	Seats Changed	% Votes
1	Indian National Congress	320	250	+4	48.87
1	Bharatiya Janata Party	311	58	-2	32.42%
3	Janata Party	172	5	+3	4.01%
4	Indian National Congress (S)	30	1	N/A	0.40%
7	Independent	320	6	-2	10.82%
	Total		320

Maharashtra

Summary of results of the Maharashtra State Assembly election, 1985^[5]
Political Party	No. of candidates	No. of elected	Number of Votes	% of Votes	Seat change
Indian National Congress	287	161	9,522,556	43.41%	25
Indian National Congress (Socialist)	126	54	3,790,850	17.28%	54
Janata Party	61	20	1,618,101	7.38%	20
Bharatiya Janata Party	67	16	1,590,351	7.25%	2
Peasants and Workers Party of India	29	13	825,949	3.77%	4
Communist Party of India	31	2	202,790	0.92%
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	14	2	174,350	0.79%
Independents	1506	20	3,836,390	17.49%	10
Total	2230	288	21,934,742

Odisha

Summary of results of the 1985 Odisha Legislative Assembly election^[6]
Political Party	Seats Contested	Won	Net Change in seats	% of Seats	Votes	Vote %	Change in vote %
Indian National Congress	147	117	1	79.59	40,07,258	51.08	3.3
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	27	1	-	0.68	89,225	15.97	-
Bharatiya Janata Party	67	1	1	0.68	2,04,346	5.66	1.43
Communist Party of India	27	1	3	0.68	2,59,508	16.12	13.4
Janata Party	140	21	-	14.28	24,01,566	32.03
Independent	374	7	N/A	4.76	8,23,850	11.54	N/A
	Total Seats	147 ( )	Voters	1,53,37,200	Turnout	80,16,583 (52.27%)

Punjab


Party	contested	Seats won	change in seats	popular vote	%
Shiromani Akali Dal	100	73	23	26,30,270	38.01
Indian National Congress	117	32	31	26,20,042	37.86
Bharatiya Janata Party	26	6	5	3,45,560	4.99
Communist Party of India	38	1	8	3,07,496	4.44
Janata Party	5	1	1	75,307	1.09
Independents	542	4	2	8,09,254	11.69
Others	29	0	-	1,32,889	1.92
Total	857	117		69,20,818

Puducherry



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	98,601	32.68	15	5
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	87,754	29.08	5	9
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	47,521	15.75	6	6
	Janata Party	25,966	8.61	2	1
	Others	22,609	7.49	0	0
	Independents	19,273	6.39	2	0
Total		301,724	100.00	30	0

Valid votes		301,724	99.08
Invalid/blank votes		2,808	0.92
Total votes		304,532	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		388,472	78.39
Source: ECI^[8]

Rajasthan



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	5,342,920	46.57	113	–20
	Bharatiya Janata Party	2,437,594	21.24	39	+7
	Lok Dal	1,360,826	11.86	27	New
	Janata Party	675,103	5.88	10	+2
	Communist Party of India	141,063	1.23	1	0
	Indian National Congress (Jagjivan)	74,176	0.65	0	New
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	66,921	0.58	0	–1
	Indian Congress (Socialist)	9,731	0.08	0	New
	Independents	1,365,641	11.90	10	–2
Total		11,473,975	100.00	200	0

Valid votes		11,473,975	98.40
Invalid/blank votes		186,527	1.60
Total votes		11,660,502	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		21,228,702	54.93
Source: ECI^[9]

Sikkim



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Sikkim Sangram Parishad	60,371	62.20	30	+14
	Indian National Congress	23,440	24.15	1	+1
	Janata Party	913	0.94	0	0
	Sikkim Prajatantra Congress	438	0.45	0	–4
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	336	0.35	0	0
	Communist Party of India	25	0.03	0	New
	Independents	11,534	11.88	1	0
Total		97,057	100.00	32	0

Valid votes		97,057	97.61
Invalid/blank votes		2,378	2.39
Total votes		99,435	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		155,041	64.13
Source: ECI^[10]

Uttar Pradesh



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	11,544,698	39.25	269	–40
	Lok Dal	6,304,455	21.43	84	New
	Bharatiya Janata Party	2,890,884	9.83	16	+5
	Janata Party	1,646,005	5.60	20	+16
	Communist Party of India	894,620	3.04	6	0
	Indian National Congress (Jagjivan)	669,031	2.27	5	New
	Doordarshi Party	228,688	0.78	0	New
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	198,780	0.68	2	0
	Indian Congress (Socialist)	88,616	0.30	0	New
	All India Forward Bloc	4,074	0.01	0	New
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	1,297	0.00	0	New
	Republican Party of India	562	0.00	0	0
	Independents	4,942,962	16.80	23	+6
Total		29,414,672	100.00	425	0

Valid votes		29,414,672	98.53
Invalid/blank votes		437,456	1.47
Total votes		29,852,128	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		65,404,531	45.64
Source: ECI^[11]

References

↑ Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1985 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF BIHAR
↑ "STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1985 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH" (PDF).
↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, Election Commission of India" (PDF). Election Commission of India.
↑ "STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1985 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MADHYA PRADESH". eci.nic.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
↑ "Key Highlights of General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra" (PDF). Election Commission of India.
↑ "Orissa 1985". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
↑ "List of Polling Booth for Punjab Lok Sabha Elections 1985".
↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 30 July 2022.
↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 28 December 2021.
↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Sikkim". Election Commission of India.
↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 16 January 2022.

External links

Election Commission of India

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[1] Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1985 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF BIHAR

[2] "STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1985 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH" (PDF).

[3] "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka, Election Commission of India" (PDF). Election Commission of India.

[4] "STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1985 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MADHYA PRADESH". eci.nic.in. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 27 May 2018.

[5] "Key Highlights of General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra" (PDF). Election Commission of India.

[6] "Orissa 1985". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 17 June 2021.

[7] "List of Polling Booth for Punjab Lok Sabha Elections 1985".

[election1985-8] "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 30 July 2022.

[9] "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 28 December 2021.

[10] "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Sikkim". Election Commission of India.

[11] "Statistical Report on General Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh". Election Commission of India . Retrieved 16 January 2022.

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1985 elections in India

Contents

Overall Result

Legislative Assembly elections

References

External links