320 Million Judges C.1

What happened in India in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections in March 1977 has been described as "the second liberation", "the Indian people's finest hour", "India's ballot revolution" and so on. By whatever name one calls the change, it is un deniable that within fortyeight hours from the afternoon of March 20 to the afternoon of March 22, the Indian political scene underwent a drastic change.

This change was not analogous to changes which normally take place in democratic countries after an election. To take only two recent examples, there was a change of governments in Australia and New Zealand after nearly three decades of one-party rule. These were normal changes in a democratic form of government. The change in India was qualitatively different for several reasons.

The change in India came after 30 years of rule by one party, the Congress Party, which had the privilege of receiving power from Britain on its withdrawal in 1947. Over the years this party had become so firmly entrenched in power that its displacement was to most people unthinkable. It was argued that the former Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, would not have ordered the poll had she not been certain of winning it.