The Janata Party was an Indian political party founded by Raj Narain

Raj Narain

Raj Narain was an Indian politician who, as a candidate of Janata Party for the Lok Sabha in 1977, ran for office in Rae Bareli constituency and defeated Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India...

 in July, 1979. On 16 July 1979 Charan Singh assumed its leadership and became the Prime Minister of India

Prime Minister of India

The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...

 on 28 July 1979 with the support of the Indian National Congress (I) but resigned on 20 August 1979 after their withdrawal of support. The Janata Party (Secular) led by Charan Singh was later renamed as Lok Dal before the Indian general election, 1980

Indian general election, 1980

India held general elections to the 7th Lok Sabha. The Janata Party came into power riding the public anger against the Congress and the Emergency but its position was weak...

 but officially contested in the elections under its previous name. In the elections for the 7th Lok Sabha

7th Lok Sabha

List of Members of the 7th Lok Sabha, elected December 1979-January 1980. The Lok Sabha is the lower house in the Parliament of India.- Important members :* Speaker:...

in 1980, the party won 41 seats and received 9.39% of the total votes polled.