1967 Indian general election

17–21 February 1967
520 of the 523 seats in the Lok Sabha 261 seats needed for a majority
Registered	250,207,401
Turnout	61.04% ( 0.12 pp)
First party Second party Third party   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 78 26 21 Popular vote 59,490,701 12,646,847 13,580,935 Percentage 40.78% 8.67% 9.31% Swing 3.94 pp 0.78 pp 2.87 pp
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]

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[lower-alpha 1]				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

See also

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

References