1984 Indian general election

1984 Indian general election

24, 27 and 28 December 1984
541 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha 271 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	64.01% (7.09pp)
First party Second party   Leader Rajiv Gandhi N.T. Rama Rao Party INC TDP Leader's seat Amethi Did not contest Seats won 414 30 Seat change 61 New Popular vote 120,107,044 10,132,859 Percentage 46.86% 3.95% Swing 4.17pp New
Prime Minister before election Rajiv Gandhi INC Prime Minister after election Rajiv Gandhi INC

General elections were held in India in 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 fighting.

The elections were a landslide victory for the Indian National Congress 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. Voting was held immediately after the assassination of Indira Gandhi and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in November and most of India supported Congress.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won its first two seats, in Hanamkonda and Mahesana.

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.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	115,478,267	49.10	404
	Bharatiya Janata Party	18,202,853	7.74	2
	Janata Party	16,210,514	6.89	10
	Lokdal	14,040,064	5.97	3
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	13,809,950	5.87	22
	Telugu Desam Party	10,132,859	4.31	30
	Communist Party of India	6,363,430	2.71	6
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,695,179	2.42	2
	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	3,968,967	1.69	12
	Indian Congress (Socialist)	3,577,377	1.52	4
	Indian National Congress (Jagjivan)	1,511,515	0.64	1
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	1,173,869	0.50	3
	All India Forward Bloc	1,055,556	0.45	2
	Jammu & Kashmir National Conference	1,010,243	0.43	3
	Indian Union Muslim League	658,821	0.28	2
	Kerala Congress (Joseph)	598,113	0.25	2
	Doordarshi Party	508,426	0.22	0
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	463,963	0.20	1
	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	332,403	0.14	0
	Kerala Congress	258,591	0.11	0
	All India Muslim League	224,155	0.10	0
	Gandhi Kamraj National Congress	217,104	0.09	0
	Socialist Unity Centre of India	196,767	0.08	0
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	165,320	0.07	0
	Manipur Peoples Party	149,019	0.06	0
	Tamil Nadu Congress (K)	144,076	0.06	0
	Naga National Democratic Party	113,919	0.05	0
	Jammu & Kashmir Panthers Party	95,149	0.04	0
	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	83,122	0.04	0
	People's Party of Arunachal	78,455	0.03	0
	Republican Party of India	22,877	0.01	0
	Jharkhand Party	18,837	0.01	0
	Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Conference	646	0.00	0
	Independents	18,623,803	7.92	5
Appointed Anglo-Indians				2
Total		235,184,209	100.00	516
Valid votes		235,184,209	97.49
Invalid/blank votes		6,062,678	2.51
Total votes		241,246,887	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		379,540,608	63.56
Source: ECI

Delayed elections in Assam and Punjab

Results from 1985

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	4,628,777	32.14	10
	Shiromani Akali Dal	2,577,279	17.90	7
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	462,576	3.21	0
	Indian Congress (Socialist)	457,705	3.18	1
	Communist Party of India	369,687	2.57	0
	Plain Tribals Council of Assam	310,150	2.15	1
	Bharatiya Janata Party	263,284	1.83	0
	Janata Party	420,082	2.92	0
	Lokdal	46,627	0.32	0
	Independents	4,864,958	33.78	8
Total		14,401,125	100.00	27
Valid votes		14,401,125	95.70
Invalid/blank votes		646,951	4.30
Total votes		15,048,076	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		20,834,725	72.23
Source: ECI

See also

• Election Commission of India
• 1982 Indian presidential election