1971 elections in India

Elections in the Republic of India in 1971 included the 1971 Indian general election, elections to three state legislative assemblies and to seats in the Rajya Sabha.

Elections in India

← 1970 1971 1972 →

General Election

Main article: 1971 Indian general election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress (R)	64,033,274	43.68	352	+69
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	15,285,851	10.43	16	New
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	10,777,119	7.35	22	–13
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	7,510,089	5.12	25	+6
	Communist Party of India	6,933,627	4.73	23	0
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	5,622,758	3.84	23	–2
	Swatantra Party	4,497,988	3.07	8	–36
	Samyukta Socialist Party	3,555,639	2.43	3	–20
	Bharatiya Kranti Dal	3,189,821	2.18	1	New
	Telangana Praja Samithi	1,873,589	1.28	10	New
	Praja Socialist Party	1,526,076	1.04	2	–11
	Shiromani Akali Dal	1,279,873	0.87	1	New
	Utkal Congress	1,053,176	0.72	1	New
	All India Forward Bloc	962,971	0.66	2	0
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	741,535	0.51	0	–2
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	724,001	0.49	3	New
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	542,662	0.37	0	New
	Kerala Congress	542,431	0.37	3	+3
	Bangla Congress	518,781	0.35	1	–4
	Indian Union Muslim League	416,545	0.28	2	0
	Vishal Haryana Party	352,514	0.24	1	New
	All India Jharkhand Party	272,563	0.19	1	New
	Shiv Sena	227,468	0.16	0	New
	Shoshit Dal Bihar	193,389	0.13	0	New
	Socialist Unity Centre of India	157,703	0.11	0	New
	Republican Party of India	153,794	0.10	1	0
	Janta Party	139,091	0.09	0	New
	All Party Hill Leaders Conference	90,772	0.06	1	0
	United Front of Nagaland	89,514	0.06	1	New
	Hindu Mahasabha	73,191	0.05	0	New
	Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League	72,131	0.05	0	New
	Bihar Prant Hul Jharkhand	66,669	0.05	0	New
	Hindustani Shoshit Dal	65,925	0.04	0	New
	Revolutionary Communist Party of India	65,622	0.04	0	New
	Lok Sewak Sangh	62,527	0.04	0	New
	Jana Congress	60,103	0.04	0	0
	Nagaland Nationalist Organisation	58,511	0.04	0	–1
	United Goans – Seqveria Group	58,401	0.04	1	0
	Socialist Party	55,064	0.04	0	New
	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	54,597	0.04	0	New
	Proutist Bloc of India	43,849	0.03	0	New
	Telangana Congress	43,548	0.03	0	New
	Minorities Labour Party	41,198	0.03	0	New
	Indian Socialist Party	38,713	0.03	0	New
	Muslim Majlis Uttar Pradesh	36,526	0.02	0	New
	Lok Raj Party Himachal Pradesh	34,070	0.02	0	New
	Uttar Pradesh Kisan Mazdoor Party	31,729	0.02	0	New
	Manipur Peoples Party	31,029	0.02	0	New
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	24,093	0.02	0	New
	Republican Party of India (Ambedkarite)	22,428	0.02	0	New
	Backward Classes Mahasabha	6,929	0.00	0	New
	Revolutionary Socialist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)	6,198	0.00	0	New
	Chota Nagpur Bhumi Rakshak Party	4,982	0.00	0	New
	Independents	12,279,629	8.38	14	–21
Appointed members[a]				3	0
Total		146,602,276	100.00	521	–2
Valid votes		146,602,276	96.74
Invalid/blank votes		4,934,526	3.26
Total votes		151,536,802	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		274,189,132	55.27
Source: ECI

1. Two representing Anglo-Indians and one representing the North-East Frontier Agency.

Overall Results

Date(s)	State	Government before election		Chief Minister before election	Government after election		Chief Minister after election	Maps
1–7 March 1971	Tamil Nadu		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	M. Karunanidhi		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	M. Karunanidhi
	West Bengal		President's Rule			United Left Democratic Front	Ajoy Mukherjee
	Orissa		Swatantra Party	Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo		Independent	Bishwanath Das

Legislative Assembly elections

Orissa

Main article: 1971 Odisha Legislative Assembly election

Party	No. of candidates	No. of elected	No. of votes	%
Indian National Congress (Indira)	129	51	1240668	28.18%
Utkal Congress	139	33	1055826	23.99%
Swatantra Party	115	36	767815	17.44%
Praja Socialist Party	50	4	267768	6.08%
Orissa Jana Congress	66	1	227056	5.16%
Communist Party of India	29	4	210811	4.79%
Indian National Congress (Organization)	50	1	79460	1.81%
All India Jharkhand Party	14	4	72291	1.64%
Samyukta Socialist Party	15	0	53271	1.21%
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	11	2	52785	1.20%
Bharatiya Jana Sangh	21	0	30824	0.70%
All India Forward Bloc	4	0	8393	0,19%
Socialist Unity Centre of India	1	0	2093	0.05%
Bihar Prant Hul Jharkhand	1	0	532	0.01%
Independents	190	4	332327	7.55%
Total:	835	140

Tamil Nadu

Main article: 1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election

Source: Election Commission of India^[1]

Alliances	Party		Popular Vote	Vote %	Seats contested	Seats won	Change
Progressive Front Seats: 205 Seat Change: +26 Popular Vote: 8,506,078 Popular Vote %: 54.30%		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	7,654,935	48.58%	203	184	47
		Communist Party of India	364,803	2.32%	10	8	6
		All India Forward Bloc	268,721	1.71%	9	7	6
		Praja Socialist Party	147,985	0.94%	4	4	—
		Indian Union Muslim League	69,634	0.44%	2	2	1
Democratic Front Seats: 21 Seat Change: -50 Popular Vote: 6,016,530 Popular Vote %: 38.18%		Indian National Congress	5,513,894	34.99%	201	15	36
		Swatantra Party	465,145	2.95%	19	6	14
		Socialist Party	37,491	0.24%	2	0	—
Others Seats: 8 Seat Change: Popular Vote: 1,234,193 Popular Vote %: 7.52%		Independent	965,379	6.13%	256	8
		Communist Party of India	259,298	1.65%	37	0
Total	10 Political Parties		15,756,801	—	—	234	—

West Bengal

Main article: 1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election

1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election

Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– CPI(M) Jyoti Basu 113 +33 Congress (R) 105 +50 Communist Party of India 13 −17 Socialist Unity Centre of India 7 0 Indian Union Muslim League 7 +7 Bangla Congress Ajoy Mukherjee 5 −28 ULF Independents 4 New All India Forward Bloc 3 −18 Revolutionary Socialist Party 3 −9 Praja Socialist Party 3 −2 Revolutionary Communist Party of India Sudhindranath Kumar 3 +1 Congress (O) 2 New Jharkhand Party 2 New Workers Party of India 2 0 Marxist Forward Bloc 2 +1 All India Gorkha League 2 −2 Bharatiya Jan Sangh 1 +1 Biplobi Bangla Congress 1 New Samyukta Socialist Party dissident 1 New This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.