Indian National Congress (Requisitionists)

Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) was the leftist faction of the Indian National Congress that was registered in 1969 and led by Indira Gandhi. The then-unified Indian National Congress was split, with the other part being Indian National Congress (O).

The letter 'R' stands for 'Requisition'. The other faction of Congress party then became the Indian National Congress (Organisation), or Congress (O), and was led by Kamaraj. It was informally called the organisation Congress or Syndicate and retained the party symbol of a pair of bullocks carrying a yoke. Gandhi's breakaway faction were given a new symbol of a cow with suckling calf by the Election Commission as the party election symbol.

The split occurred when, in 1969, a united opposition under the banner of Samyukt Vidhayak Dal won control over several states in the Hindi belt.

Indira Gandhi, prime minister and daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, was then challenged by the majority of the party leadership. Gandhi led the new faction to demonstrate her support amongst the people. In the 1971 general election, Congress (R) had secured an overwhelming majority winning 352 out of 518 seats in the Lok Sabha. The number of seats held by the Congress (O) fell from 65 to 16. The Election Commission recognised Indira Gandhi's group as the real Congress with the right to call itself the Indian National Congress without the suffix (R), and restored the frozen Congress symbol of two bullocks to it. But Indira Gandhi's supporters preferred the 'calf and cow' symbol that it had adopted after the 1969 split. In the elections to five state assemblies too, the Congress (R) performed well.