Presidential election, 1969

The 1969 presidential election was not a routine constitutional exercise — it became the arena where the long-simmering rivalry between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Congress party's old guard, the Syndicate, finally exploded into open conflict. The death of President Zakir Hussain in 1969 created a vacancy that both factions saw as a chance to assert control.

The Syndicate, despite Indira Gandhi's objections, pushed through the nomination of N. Sanjeeva Reddy, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and a long-time opponent of the Prime Minister, as the official Congress candidate. Indira Gandhi responded not by accepting the party decision but by quietly encouraging the then Vice-President, V.V. Giri, to file his nomination as an independent candidate. To build popular support and put pressure on the party establishment, she simultaneously announced two major policy measures: the nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks and the abolition of the 'privy purse' — the hereditary grants and special privileges given to former princes.

Morarji Desai, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, strongly opposed both these moves. The differences between him and the Prime Minister became so serious that Desai left the government. Unlike earlier internal party disputes, this time both sides wanted a showdown, and the presidential election provided the stage.

The Congress President, S. Nijalingappa, issued a whip directing all Congress MPs and MLAs to vote for Sanjeeva Reddy. Indira Gandhi's supporters responded by requisitioning a special meeting of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) — which is why this faction came to be known as the 'requisitionists' — but the party leadership refused to hold the meeting. After initially supporting V.V. Giri in a quiet manner, the Prime Minister openly called for a 'conscience vote', arguing that Congress members should be free to vote according to their own judgment rather than follow the party whip.

The election resulted in the victory of V.V. Giri, the independent candidate, and the defeat of Sanjeeva Reddy, the official Congress candidate. This defeat formalised the split in the party. The Congress President expelled Indira Gandhi from the party, but she claimed that her group was the real Congress. By November 1969, the two factions had crystallised into separate parties:

• The group led by the Syndicate came to be called the Congress (Organisation) — also referred to as the Old Congress.
• The group led by Indira Gandhi came to be called the Congress (Requisitionists) — also referred to as the New Congress.

Indira Gandhi projected the split not as a personal power struggle but as an ideological divide: between socialists and conservatives, between the pro-poor and the pro-rich.