7th Punjab Assembly

The 1977 Punjab Legislative Assembly election was the seventh Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) election of the state. Shiromani Akali Dal and Janata Party coalition emerged as the victorious with 83 seats in the 117-seat legislature in the election. The Indian National Congress became the official opposition, holding 17 seats. On 17 February 1980, Assembly dissolved prematurely and president rule was imposed.^[b]

Seventh Punjab Legislative Assembly
Punjab Legislative Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	30 June 1977
Disbanded	17 February 1980
Preceded by	Sixth Punjab Legislative Assembly
Succeeded by	Eighth Punjab Legislative Assembly
Leadership
Speaker[1]	Ravi Inder Singh
Deputy Speaker[2]	Panna Lal Nayyar
Leader of House (Chief Minister)	Parkash Singh Badal
Leader of the Opposition	Balram Jakhar
Structure
Seats	117[3]
Political groups	Government (98)[a]   SAD+ (83)   SAD (58)   JP (25) Confidence and supply (15)   CPIM (8)   CPI (7) Opposition (19)   INC (17)   IND (2)
Length of term	1977-1980
Elections
Voting system	first-past-the-post
Last election	1977
Next election	1980

History

After withdrawal of National Emergency in India, fresh election held in Punjab along with other States. Shiromani Akali Dal and Janata Party fought election in coalition and won. Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) extended outside support to the Government.^[5]

Despite Indian National Congress contested more seats than Janata Party but could able to won 17 seats and stood at third place for the first time in Punjab.

Dissolution of Assembly

Notes

1. The given members of parties were at the time of the formation of the Government. The numbers changed later on due to defections, resignations, mergers or splits
2. President's rule may be imposed when the "government in a state is not able to function as per the Constitution", which often happens because no party or coalition has a majority in the assembly. When President's rule is in force in a state, its council of ministers stands dissolved. The office of chief minister thus lies vacant, and the administration is taken over by the governor, who functions on behalf of the central government. At times, the legislative assembly also stands dissolved.^[4]