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 Puchalapalli Sundarayya Party INC(R) CPI(M) Last election 40.78%, 283 seats 4.28%, 12 seats Seats won 352 25 Seat change 69 6 Popular vote 64,033,274 7,510,089 Percentage 43.68% 5.12% Swing 2.90pp 0.84pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee K. Kamaraj Party ABJS INC(O) Last election 9.31%, 35 seats – Seats won 22 16 Seat change 13 New Popular vote 10,777,119 15,285,851 Percentage 7.35% 10.43% Swing 1.96 pp 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]