The Janata Party won power in Rajasthan for the first time in a landslide, defeating the Indian National Congress and ending its unbroken hold on the state assembly since independence.

It won 152 of the 200 seats on offer.

That left it 51 seats clear of a majority.

The JNP took 76.0% of the seats on 50.4% of the vote.

The INC fell to 41 seats on 31.5% of the vote.

On 23 January 1977, the Congress (O), Bharatiya Lok Dal, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Socialist Party dissolved their separate identities and merged into the Janata Party. It contested Rajasthan's assembly election that June under this single banner rather than as separate opposition parties.¹

On 18 April 1977, Union Home Minister Charan Singh wrote to the chief ministers of nine Congress-run states, including Rajasthan, urging them to advise their governors to dissolve the assembly and seek a fresh mandate. On 22 April, Law Minister Shanti Bhushan said on All India Radio that a clear case existed for dissolving the nine assemblies and holding fresh elections.²

Rajasthan and several other Congress-run states sued the Union in the Supreme Court to block the dissolution. The Court dismissed the suits on 29 April 1977, clearing the way for the election that June.³

This was 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 number of seats in the assembly grew from 184 to 200.

The INC saw its winning streak end in collapse.

It had won 5 elections in a row before this one.

The JNP itself hadn't existed at the previous election, growing from 0 seats to 152 seats this time.

The closest race was at Ahore, Rajasthan, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of 18 votes.

Hawamahal, Rajasthan had the widest margin of the year, with the winner finishing 78.2% of the vote ahead of the runner-up.

Behror, Rajasthan recorded the highest turnout of any seat — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — at 98.6%.

Kolayat, Rajasthan was the state's largest constituency by registered voters, with 1,05,341 names on the rolls.

Amber, Rajasthan drew the most candidates of any seat, 23 names on the ballot.

Across the state, 1,150 candidates contested the 200 seats on offer that year.

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was sworn in as Rajasthan's first-ever non-Congress Chief Minister on 22 June 1977, in the days immediately following the Janata Party's win in the state.⁴

His government was dismissed in 1980.⁴

He returned to the post as Chief Minister from 1990 to 1992, and once more from 1993 to 1998, by which time he was leading the state for the Bharatiya Janata Party rather than the Janata Party.⁴