t.com www.GOALias.blogspot.com www.GOALias.blogspot.com

www.GOALias.blogspot.comChallenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 97The outcome and afterThe results of the Lok Sabha elections of 1971, were as dramaticas was the decision to hold these elections. The Congress(R)-CPIalliance won more seats and votes than the Congress had ever wonin the first four general elections. The combine won 375 seats in LokSabha and secured 48.4 per cent votes. Indira Gandhi’s Congress(R)won 352 seats with about 44 per cent of the popular votes on its own.Contrast this with the performance of the Congress(O): the partywith so many stalwarts could get less than one-fourth of the votessecured by Indira Gandhi’s party and win merely 16 seats. With thisthe Congress party led by Indira Gandhi established its claim to beingthe ‘real’ Congress and restored to it the dominant position in Indianpolitics. The Grand Alliance of the opposition proved a grand failure.Their combined tally of seats was less than 40.Credit: R. K. Laxman in The Times of India“The Grand Finish” is how a cartoonist interpreted the outcome of the 1971 elections.Players on the ground are the then leading opposition figures.