In the 1991 elections, the Congress (I) secured nine seats in the Telangana region while the MIM’s Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi retained Hyderabad seat by a narrow margin of 4% votes over the BJP’s Baddam Bal Reddy. Two seats were bagged by the TDP and the BJP, CPI and CPI (M) won one each
Assassination that shocked nation
Seconds before he was about to address an election meeting at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on the night of May 21, former PM and then Congress (I) chief Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE, right after the first phase of LS elections. With this, the second and third phase of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections scheduled for May 23 and May 26 were postponed to June 12 and 15 respectively. Repolling in constituencies scheduled for May 23 were also shifted. According to an Express report, Gandhi was conferred Bharat Ratna “in a surprise move by the government” on June 17, along with former deputy PM Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Bandaru’s debut
Congress’ Mallu Ravi, who is contesting from Nagarkurnool for the sixth-time, made his debut in LS polls and trounced TDP’s Mahendranath P. Former Union Minister for Labour and Employment and present Governor of Haryana Bandaru Dattatreya contested and won for the first time from Secunderabad LS seat, securing 16% more votes than Congress’ T Manemma Anjaiah, spouse of former AP CM T Anjaiah.
Riding on a wave of sympathy
According to a report published in Express on June 19, 1991, the sympathy wave following Rajiv’s assassination helped Cong-I in AP, MP and Rajasthan. “In Andhra Pradesh, the Congress-I managed to secure only four seats and was leading in a fifth, out of the 18 which went to the polls on May 20. However, out of the remaining 24, where polling was held after Mr Gandhi’s death, the Congress won an impressive 19 seats, and was heading for the victory in one more. Thus from securing less than 30% of the seats in the pre-Rajiv phase, the Congress-I made a massive jump by getting more than 80% of the seats in the post-Rajiv phase,” reads the report.
PV, 1st PM from south
As per a report published in Express on June 18, 1991, Congress-I chief PV Narasimha Rao and Maharashtra CM Sharad Pawar were in the race for leadership of Congress-I Parliamentary Party (CPP-I). PV was ultimately chosen as the president.
After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, the search for a successor intensified. This time, the Congress was looking for a PM. Sonia Gandhi refused the crown and unexpectedly PV was chosen. Considered as a retiree from active politics, PV had not contested the 1991 LS elections. Making a comeback, he contested in the Nandyal byelection and won by a margin of five lakh votes.
Later, he went on to become the first prime minister from the southern India.
PV, who was honoured with Bharat Ratna in 2024, was known for revolutionising the Indian economy. He ushered in “the post-1991 economic reforms that changed the mindset – if not the face of India,” Express had reported.
Research: Ajay Tomar, Amrutha Kothapally, Navya Parvathy