Hindustan Times

Abhishek Jha

Nishant Ranjan

Roshan Kishore

Let three charts narrate the story of one of the most influential politicans in India's modern history.

The making and unmaking of Indira Gandhi

<p>The 1967 election was the first in which the Congress had to seek a mandate without Jawaharlal Nehru. Not long after Nehru’s death in 1964, his successor Lal Bahadur Shastri passed away too (in 1966). It was Indira Gandhi who led the party in the 1967 polls. The decade that followed could be said to mark the making and unmaking of Indira, one of the most influential politicians in India’s history. Here are three charts that capture the tumultuous period.</p><h2 style="text-align:center;">1967: Big losses for the Congress</h2><p>This was the first Lok Sabha election in which the Congress did not win a brute majority. It came away with a seat share of 54% in 1967, down from a range of 73% to 75% in the first three elections (1951-52, 1957 and 1962).</p><p>This was not because of loss of seats in a particular state, but rather from a loss across nearly all. Of the 14 states that had at least 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 1962 election, the Congress won a majority in all but Kerala; and won a two-thirds seat share in 10.</p><p>In the 1967 election, the Congress could win a majority in only eight of the 14 states, and a two-thirds seat share in just five. (To be sure, for the sake of this analysis, Punjab and Haryana have been considered a single state in 1967, though Haryana was carved out of Punjab in 1966.)</p>

<h2 style="text-align:center;">1971: Indira Gandhi wrests control</h2><p>As it turned out, Gandhi’s biggest political challenge wasn’t even her party’s declining popularity in the country. Her battle for political survival was within her party, against the old guard, also referred to as The Syndicate. The inner-party struggle first led to a split in the Congress, with veterans led by the likes of K Kamaraj and Morarji Desai forming a rival Indian National Congress (Organisation).</p><p>By the 1971 election, Indira’s faction seemed to have regained control and she won 68% of the 518 Lok Sabha seats. The win was also reflected in state-wise seat shares in the big states. The Congress won a majority in 10 of these 14 big states and a two-third seat share in eight.</p><p>The Congress (O) could only win 16 of the 238 seats it contested, with just a 10% vote share. This dominance, however, would be short-lived.</p>

<h2 style="text-align:center;">1977: A non-Congress government comes to power</h2><p>Growing economic discontent, coupled with Gandhi’s high-handed methods, triggered widespread political discontent soon after the Congress’s 1971 victory. The final straw came when the Allahabad high court declared Gandhi’s election invalid. In a decision which would haunt the Congress for decades, Gandhi decided to impose Emergency, suspend civil rights, and put a large number of opposition leaders in jail.</p><p>She finally announced fresh elections in 1977, and released the political prisoners, but her assault on democracy, as it were, united the opposition, and led to the first-ever defeat of the Congress in a Lok Sabha election.</p><p>There were 15 states in the 1977 election with 10 or more Lok Sabha seats (Haryana was among them by this time). In 1971, the Congress had won a majority in all but four (West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat). In 1977, the Congress won a majority in only four (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Assam).</p>