1951–52 Indian general election

1951–52 Indian general election
489 of the 499 seats in the Lok Sabha; 245 seats needed for a majority
Registered	173,212,343
Prime Minister before election; Jawaharlal Nehru; INC	Prime Minister after election ; Jawaharlal Nehru; INC

General elections were held in India between 25 October 1951 and 21 February 1952, the first national elections after India attained independence in 1947.^[1]^[2]^[3] Voters elected the 489 members of the first Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. Elections to most of the state legislatures were held simultaneously.^[4]

The elections were conducted under the provisions of the constitution adopted on 26 November 1949. After the adoption of the constitution, the Constituent Assembly continued to act as the interim parliament, while an interim cabinet was headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. An Election Commission was created in 1949 and in March 1950 Sukumar Sen was appointed as the first Chief Election Commissioner. A month later parliament passed the Representation of the People Act which set out how the elections for parliament and state legislatures would be conducted.^[5] The 489 seats of the Lok Sabha were allotted across 401 constituencies in 25 states. There were 314 constituencies electing one member using the first-past-the-post system. 86 constituencies elected two members, one from the general category and one from Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. There was one constituency with three elected representatives.^[6] The multi-seat constituencies were created as reserved seats for backward sections of society, and were abolished in the 1960s. The constitution at this time also provided for two Anglo-Indian members to be nominated by the President of India.

A total of 1,949 candidates competed for 489 seats in the Lok Sabha. Each candidate was allotted a different coloured ballot box at the polling booth, on which the candidate's name and symbol were written. 16,500 clerks were appointed on a contract of six months to type and collate the electorate rolls and 380,000 reams of paper were used for printing the rolls.^[7] A total of 173,212,343 voters were registered (excluding Jammu and Kashmir) out of a population of 361,088,090 according to the 1951 census, making it the largest election conducted at the time. All Indian citizens over the age of 21 were eligible to vote.

Due to the harsh climate and challenging logistics, the election was held in 68 phases.^[8] A total of 196,084 polling booths were set up, of which 27,527 booths were reserved for women. The majority of voting took place in early 1952, but Himachal Pradesh voted in 1951 as its weather was commonly inclement in February and March, with heavy snow impending free movement.^[9] The remainder of states voted in February–March 1952, except for Jammu & Kashmir, where no voting took place for Lok Sabha seats until 1967. The first votes of the election were cast in the tehsil (district) of Chini in Himachal Pradesh.^[10]

The result was a landslide victory for the Indian National Congress (INC), which received 45% of the vote and won 364 of the 489 seats. The second-placed Socialist Party received only 11% of the vote and won twelve seats. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the country.

Contesting parties

A total of 53 parties and 533 independents contested the 489 seats.^[11]

Several ministers resigned from their posts and formed their own parties to contest the elections. Syama Prasad Mukherjee established the Jana Sangh in October 1951 and Law Minister B. R. Ambedkar revived the Scheduled Castes Federation (which was later named the Republican Party). Congress party president Purushottam Das Tandon resigned from his post because of differences with Nehru.^[12]^[13]

Results



Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	47,665,951	44.99	364
	Socialist Party	11,216,719	10.59	12
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	6,135,978	5.79	9
	Communist Party of India	3,487,401	3.29	16
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	3,246,361	3.06	3
	Scheduled Castes Federation	2,521,695	2.38	2
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	2,091,898	1.97	3
	Krishikar Lok Party	1,489,615	1.41	1
	People's Democratic Front	1,367,404	1.29	7
	Shiromani Akali Dal	1,047,611	0.99	4
	Hindu Mahasabha	1,003,034	0.95	4
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	992,187	0.94	2
	Forward Bloc (Marxist)	963,058	0.91	1
	All India Ganatantra Parishad	959,749	0.91	6
	Tamil Nadu Toilers' Party	889,292	0.84	4
	Jharkhand Party	749,702	0.71	3
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	468,108	0.44	3
	Commonweal Party	325,398	0.31	3
	Lok Sewak Sangh	309,940	0.29	2
	Zamindar Party	291,300	0.27	0
	Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party	236,094	0.22	1
	Uttar Pradesh Praja Party	213,656	0.20	0
	S.K. Paksha	137,343	0.13	0
	All India Forward Bloc (Ruikar)	133,936	0.13	0
	Kamgar Kisan Paksha	132,574	0.13	0
	Tribal Sangha	116,629	0.11	0
	Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress	115,893	0.11	1
	Kerala Socialist Party	102,098	0.10	0
	Indian Union Muslim League	79,470	0.08	1
	Revolutionary Communist Party of India	67,275	0.06	0
	Justice Party	63,254	0.06	0
	All India United Kisan Sabha	60,254	0.06	0
	All India Republican Party (RPP)	57,815	0.05	0
	All India Republican Party (REP)	44,286	0.04	0
	All People's Party	36,851	0.03	0
	Tamil Nadu Congress Party	36,158	0.03	0
	Khasi-Jaintia Durbar	32,987	0.03	0
	Saurashtra Khedut Sangh	29,766	0.03	0
	Bolshevik Party of India	25,792	0.02	0
	All Manipur National Union	22,083	0.02	0
	Uttar Pradesh Revolutionary Socialist Party	20,665	0.02	0
	Hill People Party	17,350	0.02	0
	Praja Party	16,955	0.02	0
	Kuki National Association	12,155	0.01	0
	Punjab Depressed Class League	11,789	0.01	0
	Pursharathi Panchayat	10,778	0.01	0
	Cochin Party	8,947	0.01	0
	Kisan Mazdoor Mandal	8,808	0.01	0
	Hyderabad State Praja Party	7,646	0.01	0
	Gandhi Sebak Seva	7,196	0.01	0
	Kisan Janta Sanyukta Party	6,390	0.01	0
	National Party of India	3,232	0.00	0
	Historical Research	1,468	0.00	0
	Independents	16,850,089	15.90	37
Appointed members^[b]				10
Total		105,950,083	100.00	499

Registered voters/turnout		173,212,343	–
Source: ECI

^ Ten members were appointed, including six representing Jammu and Kashmir, two representing Anglo-Indians, one representing Part B tribal areas in Assam and one representing the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
^ Six representing Jammu and Kashmir, two representing Anglo-Indians, one representing Part B tribal areas in Assam and one representing the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Results by state

State	Total seats	Seats won
		INC	CPI	SPI	KMPP	PDF	GP	BJS	RRP	SCF	KLP	Others	Ind.	App.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands	1													1
Assam	13	11		1										1
Ajmer	2	2
Bhopal	2	2
Bihar	55	45		3								6	1
Bilaspur	1												1
Bombay	45	40								1		1	3
Coorg	1	1
Delhi	4	3			1
Himachal Pradesh	3	3
Hyderabad	25	14		1		7				1		1	1
Jammu and Kashmir	6													6
Kutch	2	2
Madhya Bharat	11	9										2
Madhya Pradesh	29	27											2
Madras	75	35	8	2	6							9	15
Manipur	2	1		1
Mysore	11	10			1
Orissa	20	11	1	1			6						1
PEPSU	5	2										2	1
Punjab	18	16										2
Rajasthan	20	9						1	3		1		6
Saurashtra	6	6
Travancore–Cochin	12	6										2	4
Tripura	2		2
Uttar Pradesh	86	81		2								1	2
Vindhya Pradesh	6	4		1	1
West Bengal	34	21	5					2				3
Anglo-Indians	2													2
Total	499	364	16	12	9	7	6	3	3	2	1	29	37	10

Source: ECI

Assam


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,210,707	45.74	11
	Socialist Party	506,943	19.15	1
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	265,687	10.04	0
	Independents	363,670	13.74	0
	Other parties	300,120	11.34	0
Total		2,647,127	100.00	12

Bihar


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	4,573,058	45.77	45
	Socialist Party	2,126,066	21.28	3
	Jharkhand Party	749,702	7.50	3
	Lok Sewak Sangh	309,940	3.10	2
	Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party	236,094	2.36	1
	Independents	1,306,660	13.08	1
	Other parties	690,931	6.91	0
Total		9,992,451	100.00	55

Bombay


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	5,781,277	50.15	40
	Independents	1,380,484	11.97	3
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	807,019	7.00	1
	Scheduled Caste Federation	511,028	4.43	1
	Socialist Party	1,682,494	14.59	0
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	639,788	5.55	0
	Other parties	726,200	6.30	0
Total		11,528,290	100.00	45

Madhya Pradesh


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	3,713,537	51.63	27
	Independents	858,407	11.93	2
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	451,749	6.28	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	396,661	5.51	0
	Socialist Party	877,392	12.20	0
	Other parties	894,845	12.44	0
Total		7,192,591	100.00	29

Madras


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	7,253,452	36.39	35
	Independents	4,614,210	23.15	15
	Communist Party of India	1,783,407	8.95	8
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	1,952,197	9.79	6
	Tamil Nadu Toilers' Party	889,292	4.46	4
	Commonweal Party	325,398	1.63	3
	Socialist Party	1,055,423	5.29	2
	Forward Bloc (Marxist Group)	332,196	1.67	1
	Indian Union Muslim League	79,470	0.40	1
	Other parties	1,649,116	8.27	0
Total		19,934,161	100.00	75

Orissa


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,555,787	42.51	11
	All India Ganatantra Parishad	959,749	26.23	6
	Socialist Party	563,462	15.40	1
	Communist Party of India	211,303	5.77	1
	Independents	316,538	8.65	1
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	52,654	1.44	0
Total		3,659,493	100.00	20

Punjab


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	2,134,586	42.76	16
	Shiromani Akali Dal	569,973	11.42	2
	Zamindar Party	291,300	5.83	0
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	279,639	5.60	0
	Communist Party of India	251,623	5.04	0
	Independents	930,383	18.64	0
	Other parties	534,834	10.71	0
Total		4,992,338	100.00	18

Uttar Pradesh


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	9,047,392	52.99	81
	Socialist Party	2,208,678	12.94	2
	Independents	1,936,383	11.34	2
	Hindu Mahasabha	325,601	1.91	1
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	1,244,099	7.29	0
	Other parties	2,312,822	13.55	0
Total		17,074,975	100.00	86

West Bengal


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	3,205,162	42.10	24
	Communist Party of India	720,304	9.46	5
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	452,279	5.94	2
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	183,005	2.40	2
	Hindu Mahasabha	324,870	4.27	1
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	679,149	8.92	0
	Independents	1,405,747	18.46	0
	Other parties	643,417	8.45	0
Total		7,613,933	100.00	34

Hyderabad


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,945,798	40.08	14
	People's Democratic Front	1,367,404	28.17	7
	Socialist Party	651,316	13.42	1
	Scheduled Caste Federation	308,591	6.36	1
	Peasants and Workers Party of India	185,168	3.81	1
	Independents	388,939	8.01	1
	Hyderabad State Praja Party	7,646	0.16	0
Total		4,854,862	100.00	25

Madhya Bharat


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	992,159	50.79	9
	Hindu Mahasabha	122,213	6.26	2
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	278,475	14.25	0
	Socialist Party	268,399	13.74	0
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	188,569	9.65	0
	Other parties	103,756	5.31	0
Total		1,953,571	100.00	11

Mysore


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,509,075	53.43	10
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	650,658	23.04	1
	Socialist Party	181,430	6.42	0
	Independents	292,472	10.36	0
	Other parties	190,792	6.76	0
Total		2,824,427	100.00	11

Patiala and East Punjab States Union


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	492,408	33.38	2
	Shiromani Akali Dal	477,638	32.38	2
	Independents	311,635	21.13	1
	Other parties	193,431	13.11	0
Total		1,475,112	100.00	5

Rajasthan


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,460,971	41.42	9
	Independents	1,028,388	29.16	6
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	331,760	9.41	3
	Krishikar Lok Party	356,630	10.11	1
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	107,089	3.04	1
	Other parties	242,119	6.86	0
Total		3,526,957	100.00	20

Saurashtra


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	506,112	66.36	6
	Hindu Mahasabha	99,311	13.02	0
	Independents	58,343	7.65	0
	Other parties	98,939	12.97	0
Total		762,705	100.00	6

Travancore Cochin


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,224,533	35.08	6
	Independents	1,265,051	36.24	4
	Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress	115,893	3.32	1
	Socialist Party	459,669	13.17	0
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	220,312	6.31	0
	Other parties	205,018	5.87	0
Total		3,490,476	100.00	11

Ajmer


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	89,761	50.15	2
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	28,990	16.20	0
	Communist Party of India	25,128	14.04	0
	Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	13,624	7.61	0
	Pursharathi Panchayat	10,778	6.02	0
	Independents	10,718	5.99	0
Total		178,999	100.00	2

Bhopal


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	97,292	57.41	2
	Hindu Mahasabha	34,712	20.48	0
	Kisan Mazdoor Mandal	8,808	5.20	0
	Socialist Party	3,329	1.96	0
	Independents	25,316	14.94	–
Total		169,457	100.00	2

Bislaspur


Party		Seats
	Independents	1
Total		1

Bilaspur constituency was uncontested

Coorg


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	38,063	59.65	1
	Independents	25,750	40.35	0
Total		63,813	100.00	1

Delhi


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	324,214	49.43	3
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	47,735	7.28	1
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	169,997	25.92	0
	Independents	83,045	12.66	0
	Other parties	30,909	4.71	0
Total		655,900	100.00	4

Himachal Pradesh


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	117,036	52.44	3
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	27,368	12.26	0
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	23,918	10.72	0
	Scheduled Caste Federation	18,988	8.51	0
	Socialist Party	16,780	7.52	0
	Independents	19,099	8.56	0
Total		223,189	100.00	3

Kutch


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	78,771	65.87	2
	Socialist Party	5,985	5.01	0
	Independents	34,824	29.12	0
Total		119,580	100.00	2

Manipur


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	36,317	23.82	1
	Socialist Party	29,372	19.26	1
	All Manipur National Union	22,083	14.48	0
	Praja Party	16,955	11.12	0
	Communist Party of India	13,184	8.65	0
	Kuki National Association	12,155	7.97	0
	Independents	13,737	9.01	0
	Other parties	8,664	5.68	0
Total		152,467	100.00	2

Tripura


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Communist Party of India	96,458	61.29	2
	Indian National Congress	40,263	25.58	0
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	9,663	6.14	0
	Independents	10,987	6.98	0
Total		157,371	100.00	2

Vindhya Pradesh


Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	238,220	33.75	4
	Socialist Party	125,480	17.78	1
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	106,071	15.03	1
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	89,701	12.71	0
	Independents	94,911	13.45	0
	Other parties	51,455	7.29	0
Total		705,838	100.00	6

Government formation

The speaker of the first Lok Sabha was Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar. The first Lok Sabha also witnessed 677 sittings (3,784 hours), the highest recorded count of the number of sitting hours. The Lok Sabha lasted its full term from 17 April 1952 until 4 April 1957.

Notable losses

First Law Minister B. R. Ambedkar was defeated in the Bombay (North Central)^[14] constituency as Scheduled Castes Federation candidate by his little-known former assistant and Congress Candidate Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar, who polled 1,38,137 votes compared to Ambedkar's 1,23,576 votes.^[10]^: 156 Ambedkar then entered the parliament as a Rajya Sabha member. He contested a by-poll from Bhandara in 1954 in another attempt to enter the Lok Sabha, but again lost to Borkar of Congress.

Acharya Kripalani lost from Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh as a KMPP candidate, but his wife Sucheta Kripalani defeated the Congress candidate Manmohini Sahgal in Delhi.^[15]

References

^ "How India pulled off its first general election". The Indian Express. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
^ "Lok Sabha polls 2024 to have longest voting period since first general elections". The Times of India. 16 March 2024. Archived from the original on 17 March 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
^ "Voting Period Of 2024 Lok Sabha Polls Longest Since First General Elections". Archived from the original on 17 March 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
^ "Elections that shaped India | The first general elections: a free country in full bloom". The Hindu. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
^ Guha, Ramachandra (2022). India after Gandhi: the history of the world's largest democracy (10th anniversary edition, updated and expanded, first published in hardcover ed.). New Delhi: Picador India. ISBN 978-93-82616-97-9.
^ "General Election of India 1951, List of Successful Candidate" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
^ Pareek, Shabdita (25 January 2016). "This Is How The First General Elections Were Held in Independent India". ScoopWhoop. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
^ "Interesting Facts About India's First General Elections". indiatimes.com. 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
^ India's first voter in Himachal Pradesh Archived 6 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine, by Gautam Dhmeer, in the Deccan Herald; published 30 October 2012; retrieved 7 April 2014
^ ^a ^b Ramachandra Guha (2008). India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0-06-095858-9.
^ "First general elections in India: All you need to know". India Today. 10 February 2016. Archived from the original on 21 July 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
^ Weiner, Myron (8 December 2015). Party Politics in India. Princeton University Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 978-1-4008-7841-3. Archived from the original on 30 March 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2023.
^ Varshney, Ashutosh. 28 March 2015. "Faults and lines Archived 16 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine." The Indian Express. Retrieved on 16 June 2020.
^ "(reserved seat)". 4 May 2014. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
^ David Gilmartin (2014). "Chapter 5: The paradox of patronage and the people's sovereignty". In Anastasia Pivliavsky (ed.). Patronage as Politics in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–152. ISBN 978-1-107-05608-4.