History of Elections: 8th Lok Sabha (1984)

The 8th Lok Sabha elections were held in 1984 after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Two of her body guards fired bullets at her to revenge Operation Blue Star and she died on spot. Rajiv Gandhi her son led party into polls and got a resounding victory (best performance of Congress till date) due to sympathy wave.

Elections in two states Assam and Punjab were not held simultaneously with Lok Sabha due to terrorism activities in the state. They were held later. Janata Party was trounced. Janata Party (Secular) rechristened as Lok Dal also lost heavily. Telugu Desam Party emerged as the 2nd largest party with 30 seats. Bhartiya Janata Party made its debut with 2 seats. Congress won 414 seats.

7 national parties and 26 state parties along with independents contested for 542 Lok Sabha seats.

Name of Party	Seats Won	Change	Votes%
BHARATIYA JANTA PARTY(BJP)	2	2	8%
INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (INC)	414	48	49%
LOK DAL (LKD)	3	(38)	6%
COMMUNIST  PARTY OF INDIA (CPI)	6	(4)	3%
JANTA PARTY (JNP)	10	(21)	7%
COUMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST)( CPM)	22	(15)	6%
INDIAN CONGRESS (ICS)	5	5	2%
OTHER STATE PARTIES	66	32	12%
REGISTERED UNRECOGNISED PARTIES	0	(1)	1%
INDEPENDENT(IND)	13	4	8%
Total	541		100%

Source: Statistical Report, Election Commission of India, 1985

Some Interesting Facts

• Voting population was 37.9 crores (2009 elections 71.4 crores)
• Voting % was 61.05% (2009 elections 59.7%)
• 5,312 candidates participated, 10.33 per constituency (2009 average 14.86)
• 80.25% candidates lost their deposits (2009 elections 84.6%)