This was the most marginal seat in the 1963 election, in which Sidiq Koya had managed to defeat James Shankar Singh by only 518 votes.
With the redrawing of the constituency's boundaries, the seat had become even harder for the Federation Party (NFP) to win, but after a hard campaign, R.D.
There was dissatisfaction within the National Federation Party with the concessions made by Koya to facilitate Fiji's independence, so after the 1972 election, when R.D.
While he was Speaker, he did not refrain from making public comments regarding the way Sidiq Koya was conducting his duties as leader of the NFP.
Differences within NFP were patched up for the elections held in March 1977, but R. D. Patel stood against Sidiq Koya as an independent candidate.