Question

“The 1977 General Election was regarded as a referendum on the experience of emergency”. Do you think the election manifested the referendum by its results? Give your explanation.

Answer 1

The 1977 election was certainly a referendum after the Emergency. Even before the Emergency, public opinion had turned against the Congress government. Emergency made the people turn against the Party. The people made a slogan asking the Opposition to save democracy. The Opposition Parties joined together and became the Janata Party. They rallied under the leadership of Jay Prakash Narayan .

The Janata Party made the 1977 election a referendum. Their propaganda focused on the violation of people’s fundamental rights, the arrest of thousands of people and censorship imposed on the media.Jay Prakash Narayan became the symbol of democracy. With the coming of the Janata Party, the opposition votes would not get scattered among different parties. Because of these reasons, Congress lost in the election.