India's Fourth General Election

Abstract

The political scene in India has been radically transformed as result of the fourth general elections, February 15-21, 1967. In sense, what many observers predicted for the fifth general elections in 1972, happened in 1967. The Congress monolith, which for so long has dominated the Indian political landscape, has been badly cracked, but not shattered. The thesis of one party dominance, which at best was rather misleading, is no longer an accurate description of the party structure, except with major modifications. party dominance has not been succeeded by two-party or three-party or multiple-party system, but rather, as one Indian commentator observed, by a cross-party polity of dubious value.' For some time the erosion of Congress strength had been apparent. It was reflected in wholesale defections, internal factionalism, and the growing alienation of influential elements in Indian society. For variety of reasons, some of which could hardly have been averted while others were of its own making, the Congress, after many years as the spearhead of the nationalist movement and nearly two decades as the dominant party with virtual monopoly of governmental power, had become soft and flabby, house divided against itself, open to charges of moving away from the people, of weak leadership (after Nehru's death), of corruption, and of incompetence. But until 1967 it had managed to come through every general election with relatively little decline in representation at the Center and in most of the States. Even in the fourth general elections it emerged as still by far the most important party; but this time its losses in seats in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) and the State Assemblies was even greater than the marked decline in its popular vote. Hence the results may be interpreted either as serious reverse for the Congress, or as major debacle of unexpected proportions. In any event, as the Weekend Review observed, One electoral verdict stands out above all others. It is that there