All political prisoners, except George Fernandes who was facing serious charges, were released. On January 20, 1977, four main opposition parties namely Jansangh, Bhartiya Lok Dal led by Charan Singh , Socialist party and Morarji Desai's Congress (O) merged and a new political party – Janata Party – was born. On January 23, Janata Party was formally launched in the presence of JP.
Interestingly, just after the formation of Janata Party, union minister and veteran SC leader Jagjivan Ram, father of present day's LS speaker Meira Kumar, resigned from cabinet and formed his own party – Congress for Democracy (CFD). He joined hands with Janata Party to ensure that anti-Congress votes do not split.
The newly formed Janata Party planned a massive rally on March 6 at New Delhi's Ramlila ground that was to be addressed by the likes of JP and Jagjivan Ram. A worried govt. decided to telecast a popular film ‘ Bobby' on state run Doordarshan, the only channel available to the masses at that time. But the ploy did not work and around 1 million people attended the rally. It was definitely not a good omen for Indira.
The election results were declared on March 20 and Congress party suffered a humiliating defeat. JP had finally succeeded in overthrowing Indira government.
