1984 Indian general election

1984 Indian general election

← 1980 24, 27 and 28 December 1984 1989 →

541 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha
271 seats needed for a majority
Registered400,375,333
Turnout64.01% (Increase 7.09pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Rajiv Gandhi, the 6th PM of India.jpg
NT Rama Rao.jpg
E. M. S. Namboodiripad.jpg
Leader Rajiv Gandhi N. T. Rama Rao E. M. S. Namboodiripad
Party INC(I) TDP CPI(M)
Alliance LF
Last election 42.69%, 353 seats 6.24%, 37 seats
Seats won 414 30 22
Seat change Increase 61 New Decrease 15
Popular vote 120,107,044 10,132,859 13,809,950
Percentage 46.86% 4.31% 5.87%
Swing Increase 4.17pp New Decrease 0.37pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Chandra Shekhar Singh 2010 stamp alt.jpg
Prime minister Charan Singh_(cropped).jpg
Lkadvani.jpg
Leader Chandra Shekhar Charan Singh L. K. Advani
Party JP LKD BJP
Last election 18.97%, 31 seats New New
Seats won 10 3 2
Seat change Decrease 21 New New
Popular vote 16,210,514 14,040,064 18,202,853
Percentage 6.89% 5.97% 7.74%
Swing Decrease 12.08pp New New

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Rajiv Gandhi
INC(I)

Prime Minister after election

Rajiv Gandhi
INC(I)

General elections were held in India on 24, 27 and 28 December 1984 soon after the assassination of previous Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, though the vote in Assam and Punjab was delayed until 1985 due to ongoing insurgency.

The elections were a landslide victory for the Indian National Congress (Indira) of Rajiv Gandhi (son of Indira Gandhi), which won 404 of the 514 seats elected in 1984 and a further 10 in the delayed elections. The Telugu Desam Party of N. T. Rama Rao, a regional political party from the state of Andhra Pradesh, was the second largest party, winning 30 seats, thus achieving the distinction of becoming the first regional party to become a national opposition party. AIADMK of Tamil Nadu contested the election in alliance with the INC (I), and won 12 seats.[1]

Voting was held immediately after the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in November and most of the Indian voters supported Congress (Indira) due to a heavy outpouring of public grief at Gandhi's death.

The 1984 elections were the last in which a single party won a majority of seats until 2014, and the only time to date in which a party won more than 400 seats.

  1. ^ Kumaresan, S. (4 March 2019). "AIADMK- Congress combine ride on sympathy wave in 1984". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 19 May 2024.