The 1977 Parliamentary Election was held in the aftermath of the Emergency which was declared nationwide. At the national level, the Indian National Congress lost power for the first time in independent India, with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi losing from her own constituency and the Janata Party under Morarji Desai coming to power.
However, the trend was the reverse in Kerala with the INC-led United Front winning a landslide by registering victories in all 20 constituencies. It is the only election in Kerala where a coalition has whitewashed all the seats. In the concurrently held assembly election, the United Front won a colossal 111 out of 140 seats, the only state to elect a Congress-led government in that year. This seemingly unusual result was attributed to the good governance as well as performance of the outgoing Achutha Menon Ministry. Congress leaders K. Karunakaran and A.K. Antony would go on to assume the office of Chief Minister for the first time.
For the Communist Party of India (Marxist), this election remains its worst performance in a Lok Sabha election in Kerala. It also came at a time when the party came into power in West Bengal, marking the beginning of a 3 and a half decade long rule.
The two coalitions comprised the following parties-
United Front- Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India, Indian Union Muslim League, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress
Marxist Front- Communist Party of India (Marxist), Bharatiya Lok Dal, Kerala Congress (Pillai), Muslim League (Opposition)
Parties and alliances
United Front No.PartyElection SymbolSeats contested1.Indian National Congress112.Communist Party of India43.Indian Union Muslim League24.Kerala Congress 25.Revolutionary Socialist Party1
Marxist Front No.PartyElection SymbolSeats contested1.Communist Party of India (Marxist)9 2.Bharatiya Lok Dal 33.Kerala Congress (Pillai) 34.Muslim League (Opposition) 25.Independent 3 List of Candidates ConstituencyUnited FrontMarxist Front1Kasaragod K. Ramachandran Ramanna Rai2Cannanore C. K. Chandrappan O. Bharathan3Badagara K. P. Unnikrishnan Arangil Sreedharan4Calicut V. A. Seyid Muhammad M. Kamalam5Manjeri Ebrahim Sulaiman Sait B. M. Hussain6Ponnani G. M. Banatwala M. Moideen Kutty Haji7Palghat A. Sunnasahib T. Sivadasa Menon8Ottapalam (SC) K. Kunhambu C. K. Chakrapani9Trichur K. A. Rajan Aravindakshan10Mukundapuram A. C. George S. C. S. Menon11Ernakulam Henry Austin K. N. Raveendranath12Muvattupuzha George J. Mathew K. M. Joseph Kuruppamadham13Kottayam Skariah Thomas Varkey George14Idukki C. M. Stephen M. M. Joseph15Alleppey V. M. Sudheeran E. Balanandan16Mavelikara B. K. Nair B. G. Verghese17Adoor (SC) P. K. Kodiyan K. Chandrasekharan Shastri18Quilon N. Sreekantan Nair N. Rajagopalan19Chirayinkil Vayalar Ravi K. Anirudhan20Trivandrum M. N. Govindan Nair P. Viswambharan
Results Results by Party/Alliance Alliance/ Party Popular vote Seats Votes % ±pp Contested Won +/−rowspan="6" UFINC25,79,74529.131111CPI9,19,35910.3844IUML5,33,7266.0322KEC4,91,6745.5522RSP2,72,3783.0811 Total 47,96,882 54.17 20 20 rowspan="6" MF CPI(M) 18,00,193 20.33 9 0 BLD 6,37,206 7.20 3 0 KC(P) 5,26,937 5.95 3 0 MLO 3,18,979 3.60 2 0 IND 5,61,709 6.34 3 0 Total 38,45,024 43.42 20 0 Others 8,305 0.09 1 0 IND 2,05,962 2.33 22 0 Total 88,56,173 100% - 63 20 -
Summary Results
No.ConstituencyElected M.P.PartyMajorityAlliance1KasaragodKadannappalli RamachandranINC5,042UF2KannurC.K. ChandrappanCPI12,877UF3VatakaraK. P. UnnikrishnanINC8,070UF4KozhikodeV. A. Seyid MuhammadINC13,704UF5ManjeriEbrahim Sulaiman Sait IUML97,201UF6PonnaniG. M. Banatwala IUML1,17,546UF7PalakkadA. SunnasahibINC44,820UF8OttapalamK. KunhambuINC35,721UF9ThrissurK. A. RajanCPI37,506UF10MukundapuramA. C. GeorgeINC4,220UF11ErnakulamHenry AustinINC7,285UF12MuvattupuzhaGeorge J. Matthew 44,820UF13KottayamSkaria Thomas 68,695UF14IdukkiC. M. StephenINC79,257UF15AlappuzhaV. M. SudheeranINC64,016UF16MavelikkaraB. K. NairINC56,552UF17AdoorP.K. KodiyanCPI40,567UF18KollamN. Sreekantan Nair1,13,161UF19ChirayankilVayalar RaviINC60,925UF20ThiruvananthapuramM. N. Govindan NairCPI69,822UF
External links PC: KERALA 1977 STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1977 TO THE SIXTH LOK SABHA