Statement adopted by the Central Parliamentary Board of the Swatantra Party on 20th March, 1971 in New Delhi.

Summary

This two-page statement, adopted by the Central Parliamentary Board of the Swatantra Party on 20 March 1971, responds to the party’s poor performance in the parliamentary elections and accepts the popular verdict while disputing the claim that the Prime Minister and her party received a mandate to amend the Constitution. It argues that the electoral system distorted popular support through disproportionate representation: the ruling party secured seats with far fewer votes per member than the Swatantra Party. The statement also attributes the Democratic Front’s defeat partly to the absence of a common programme and criticises the Front’s earlier indecision over a united opposition platform.

The statement sets out the party’s intended parliamentary role after the election. It says the Swatantra Party’s smaller group must uphold democracy and individual liberty, resist authoritarian tendencies—including attempts to restrict press freedom, weaken the Supreme Judiciary, or undermine Fundamental Rights—and support government measures that promote prosperity and a free society. It therefore presents the party as a determined but non-factional opposition. The rendered pages do not include material beyond this concluding statement.

Key points

• The Central Parliamentary Board accepts the election result despite the Swatantra Party’s major electoral losses.
• The statement rejects the claim that the Prime Minister and her party received a mandate to amend the Constitution.
• It argues that the first-past-the-post system produced disproportionate representation of the ruling party and under-representation of opposition parties.
• It identifies law and order, price stability, employment, and economic revival as the new government’s principal responsibilities.
• It attributes the Democratic Front’s defeat partly to the absence of a common programme and to prolonged indecision.
• It assigns Swatantra’s parliamentary group a role in defending democracy, individual liberty, press freedom, judicial authority, and Fundamental Rights.
• It calls for an opposition that is determined but not merely factional.