The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress| Class 12 Political Science

Last Updated : 18 Apr, 2025

The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress is a subpart of the Class 12 Political Science Chapter 5 Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System. The subpart 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress describes the turning point of the Congress party as the Former Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru died in 1964. The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress describes how Indira Gandhi fought the 1971 Lok Sabha election and how he resorted to the central power through it.

In this article, we are going to discuss the Class 12 Political Science Chapter 5 subpart 'The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress' in detail.

Table of Content

The 1971 Lok Sabha Election and Restoration of Congress

During the 1971 General Elections, the Congress's right wing did many commendable jobs. The Congress's right wing was totally under the control of Smt. Indira Gandhi. So many political developments happened due to this time and again Indira showed her dominance in Indian politics.

Here are some major developments in the 1971 General Elections on which Indira Gandhi restored the power of Congress in central government as mentioned below.

In the time of the 1971 general elections, the Congress's right wing became the minority party. For that, she started to support other parties and started to form new alliances. Congress (R) became an alliance party of the Communist Party of India.
Her government actively supported socialist policies like land reforms and land ceiling legislation. Through these, she showed her concern for the poverty and inequality of the country.
By doing this, Indira Gandhi tactfully used the slogan "Garibi Hatao" to attract people in her support. So many disadvantaged groups and unemployed youth started to support her. On the other side, the opposition's focus was to remove Indira Gandhi from power.
In the 1971 general elections, Congress (R) and the CPI alliance secured a huge victory by winning 375 seats in Lok Sabha. Indira Gandhi's party alone won 352 seats.
Under the Grand Alliance, the opposition failed to create pressure on Indira Gandhi and they only got 40 seats.
Indira Gandhi also won in the 1972 State Assembly Elections due to her leadership and help to Bangladesh to achieve their freedom. For this move, she became more popular in India and all over the world.

In this way, Indira Gandhi and her Congress(R) party started to receive major victories and gained dominance in Indian politics.

Was it the Restoration of Congress in Indian Politics?

So, Now the major question is does it mean that the Congress system was fully restored in Indian polities? Yes, it is true. Under Indira Gandhi, the traditional process of Congress's working and functioning was restored through the 1971 Lok Sabha and 1972 State Assembly Elections. It created again a dominant position in Indian Politics by following some major facts as mentioned below.

The new Congress relied on the supreme leader Indira Gandhi.
The old structure of the congress was open to all factions and opinions. However, the new congress entered Indian politics under Indira's leadership only.
The new congress realized the specific demographics data and they particularly targeted majorly poor and neglected sections of the society.
The major vote pool came from the unemployed youths as they were really attracted to the "Garibi Hatao" slogan.