Several opposition parties merged into the Janata Party to challenge Indira Gandhi's Indian National Congress.¹²

It won 295 of the 542 seats, a majority on its own.

That left it 23 seats clear of the 272-seat majority mark.

The result was a landslide: the INC fell to 154 seats on 34.5% of the vote, a collapse from power.

Its vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — was 41.3%, which still converted into 54.4% of the seats under India's first-past-the-post system.

On 25 June 1975 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government declared a national Emergency, suspending civil liberties, jailing opposition leaders and censoring the press.²

During the Emergency, the 42nd Constitutional Amendment extended the Lok Sabha's own term from five to six years, delaying the election that would otherwise have come sooner.³

In January 1977 Gandhi made a surprise broadcast calling for fresh elections and released political prisoners held since the Emergency began.⁴

Days later, on 23 January, several opposition parties merged into the Janata Party to fight the election as one. Morarji Desai opened its campaign at a Delhi rally, telling the crowd it would decide 'whether we will remain an independent people or turn into a nation of slaves.' Jagjivan Ram then quit Congress and formed a new party allied with Janata. Janata's own manifesto then framed the poll as a choice 'between freedom and slavery; between democracy and dictatorship.'¹⁵⁶⁷

Polling ran over five days, from 16 to 20 March. The Emergency formally ended on 21 March, days into the vote that had already begun.⁸²

This was also the first election held on entirely new constituency boundaries.

The boundaries had just gone through delimitation — the official redrawing of constituency boundaries, which happens every so often as India's population shifts.

The Lok Sabha grew from 518 to 542 seats under the new map.

The party that won hadn't even existed at the previous election, its own seat count rising from 0 to 295.

That defeat ended the INC's streak of 5 consecutive general-election wins.

The closest race was Kolhapur, Maharashtra, decided by 165 votes — the margin, how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second, of any seat that year.

Hajipur, Bihar saw the widest margin of the election, with the winner finishing 80.8% of the vote ahead of the runner-up.

Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — peaked in Lakshadweep, Lakshadweep, at 84.2%, the highest of any seat in the country.

Madras Central, Tamil Nadu had the largest electorate anywhere in the country, with 8,60,316 registered voters on its rolls.

The most crowded ballot was in Bombay South, Maharashtra, where 14 candidates stood for the seat.

2 seats had no contest at all, an unopposed return — a seat where only one candidate stood, so no vote was needed to decide it.

The Emergency itself, declared by Indira Gandhi's government on 25 June 1975, suspended civil liberties, jailed opposition leaders and censored the press.²

During it, the 42nd Constitutional Amendment extended Parliament's own term from five years to six, delaying the election that would otherwise have come earlier.³

Once the Emergency was lifted and the election was announced, several opposition parties merged into the JNP on 23 January 1977 to contest it together.¹