1971 Indian general election

1971 Indian general election

← 1967 1–10 March 1971[1] 1977 →
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518 of the 521 seats in the Lok Sabha 260 seats needed for a majority
Registered	274,189,132
Turnout	55.27% ( 5.77pp)
First party Second party   Leader Indira Gandhi Atal Bihari Vajpayee Party INC(R) ABJS Last election 40.78%, 283 seats 9.31%, 35 seats Seats won 352 22 Seat change 69 13 Popular vote 64,033,274 10,777,119 Percentage 43.68% 7.35% Swing 2.90pp 1.96 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Puchalapalli Sundarayya K. Kamaraj Party CPI(M) INC(O) Last election 4.28%, 12 seats – Seats won 25 16 Seat change 6 New Popular vote 7,510,089 15,285,851 Percentage 5.12% 10.43% Swing 0.84pp New
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Indira Gandhi INC(R) Prime Minister after election Indira Gandhi INC(R)

General elections were held in India between 1 and 10 March 1971 to elect members of the fifth Lok Sabha. They were the fifth general elections since independence in 1947. The 27 Indian states and union territories were represented by 518 constituencies, each with a single seat.^[2] Under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the Indian National Congress (R) led a campaign which focused on reducing poverty and won a landslide victory, overcoming a split in the party and regaining many of the seats lost in the previous election.^[3]