Indira Gandhi returned to power in a landslide, leading Congress (I), the new party she had built after Congress's 1977 defeat.¹

It won 353 of the 529 seats.

That was 88 more than it needed for a majority.

INC(I) took 42.7% of the vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate.

Its nearest rival, JNP(S), won 41 seats.

Congress lost power in 1977, and Indira Gandhi broke away from the undivided party to form her own faction, Congress (I).¹

Morarji Desai's Janata government lost its majority and Desai resigned in July 1979. Raj Narain then founded a breakaway Janata Party (Secular), and Charan Singh took over its leadership on 16 July, becoming prime minister on 28 July with Congress (I) support.²³

The original Janata Party, weakened by the split, contested the election with Jagjivan Ram as its prime ministerial candidate.⁴

The election was then held over two polling days, 3 and 6 January. Indira Gandhi herself contested two seats that day, Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Medak in Andhra Pradesh, winning both and choosing to keep Medak.⁵⁶

The result was just as much a story of collapse for the party that had won last time.

Janata Party lost the most ground, with INC(I) picking up 195 of its former seats.

Nationwide, 467 of the 529 comparable seats changed hands from one party to another.

Much of that reflects the same Congress split, now counted under its successor parties, rather than entirely new political ground.

Two new parties, JNP(S) and INC(U), entered parliament with real strength for the first time.

The closest race: Deoria, Uttar Pradesh was decided by 77 votes — the smallest margin, how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second, of any seat that year.

At the other extreme, the winner in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh won by 68.5% over the runner-up, the widest margin of any seat that year measured as a share of the vote.

The highest turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — anywhere in the country was in Lakshadweep, Lakshadweep, at 88.3%.

The biggest single electorate was in Bombay North East, Maharashtra, with 9,16,054 registered voters.

The most crowded ballot was in Chandigarh, Chandigarh, with 39 candidates standing.

Nationally, turnout came in at 56.1%, a shift of -3.5 pp from the previous election.

Morarji Desai's Janata government, in power since 1977, lost its majority in July 1979, and Charan Singh became prime minister with outside support from Congress (I) before that support too was withdrawn.²

That collapse followed Congress's own 1978 split, when INC(I) broke away as Indira Gandhi's own faction.¹

Charan Singh's own breakaway, renamed Lok Dal before the poll, finished as the runner-up: JNP(S) won 41 seats.³