Congress holds the lead, not a majority
What happened
No single party won enough seats to form a government on its own this time.
That left Gujarat with a hung house — a result where no single party wins enough seats to govern alone.
The Indian National Congress, still running as the INC(R), won the most seats, 75 in all.
That fell short of the 91-seat majority mark.
What changed
INC still won the most seats, but its total fell sharply from the previous election.
It went from 140 seats to just 75 this time.
The single biggest shift was 44 seats moving from the INC to the Indian National Congress (Organisation).
That made 4 elections in a row the INC had finished with the most seats.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from the results stand out.
The tightest finish anywhere in the state was Kheralu, Gujarat, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 11 votes.
At the other extreme, Bulsar, Gujarat saw the widest win of the night, with the winner ahead by 61.4% of the vote.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — peaked in Manavadar, Gujarat, reaching 76.4%.
Asarwa, Gujarat had the largest electorate of any seat that year, with 1,02,966 people on the rolls.
The backdrop
This election followed a period of serious political turmoil in the state.
A student-led agitation against price rises and alleged corruption spread across Gujarat from December 1973. Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel resigned on 9 February 1974, and the assembly was dissolved on 16 March 1974 under President's Rule, leading to fresh elections in June 1975.