1984 Indian general election

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.

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.

Results

Delayed elections in Assam and Punjab

The elections in Punjab were held in September 1985 after the signing of the Rajiv–Longowal Accord between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Akali leader Harchand Singh Longowal on 24 July 1985. The elections were held alongside elections to the Punjab Legislative Assembly. In Assam elections were held in December 1985 after the signing of the Assam Accord in August 1985.

See also

• List of members of the 8th Lok Sabha
• Election Commission of India
• 1982 Indian presidential election

References