Indira Gandhi wins Congress vote, set to take over as PM

HT’s report on Gandhi defeating Morarji Desai to become Cong Parliamentary Party leader

- HT Correspondent

Indira Gandhi being sworn in as the Prime Minister of India by President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on January 24, 1966, days after her election as the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

(HT ARCHIVE)

Mrs Indira Gandhi was on January 19, 1966 elected leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party and thus placed in position to become the country’s Prime Minister.

She won a convincing victory over her rival, Mr Morarji Desai, when she polled 355 votes against his 169. Of the 526 votes cast, two were declared invalid. Even though her success was virtually a foregone conclusion, thousands had assembled outside Parliament House since the early hours of the morning to watch the leaders arrive and to get a vague sense of association with the historic event. Many chief ministers and state leaders, who had “no franchise” in the election, stood around for hours on the lawn surrounding the Central Hall of the building where the party meeting was held. The election was necessitated by the sudden death of PM Lal Bahadur Shastri on January 11 in Tashkent.