1980 general election
Topic: The Emergency (1975-77) and the Crisis of Democratic Order · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "The Crisis of Democratic Order"
Meaning
The 1980 general election was a mid-term poll: an election held before the Lok Sabha finished its full term. It was held in January 1980 after the Janata experiment collapsed. Indira Gandhi's Congress won 353 seats and returned to power. The lesson was that voters punish governments that look unstable and quarrelsome.
Example
The Morarji Desai government lost its majority in July 1979. Charan Singh's government then depended on Congress support. It fell after about four months when the Congress withdrew that support, and Charan Singh never faced the Lok Sabha. Voters who had rejected the Congress in 1977 brought it back in 1980.
Don't confuse with
- 1977 general election: the poll in which the Congress lost power after the Emergency, winning only 154 seats. In 1980 it came back with 353.