Indian general election, 1951–52

Indian general election, 1951
All 489 seats in the Lok Sabha ; 245 seats were needed for a majority
Prime Minister before election; Jawaharlal Nehru ; INC	Subsequent Prime Minister; Jawaharlal Nehru ; INC

Last updated April 09, 2019

The Indian general election of 1951–52 elected the first Lok Sabha since India became independent in August 1947.^[1]^[2]^[3] Until this point, the Indian Constituent Assembly had served as an interim legislature. See the 'Durations' section below to find the time-range associated with these elections.

The First Lok Sabha was constituted on 17 April 1952 after India's first general election. The 1st Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957. First Session of this Lok Sabha commenced on 13 May 1952.

The Lok Sabha is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the President on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi.

India, also known as the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area and with more than 1.3 billion people, it is the second most populous country as well as the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

The Indian National Congress (INC) won a landslide victory, winning 364 of the 489 seats and 45% of the total votes polled. This was over four times as many votes as the second-largest party. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the country. In the first Lok Sabha polls held in 1951, India had around 173 million voters, out of an overall population of about 360 million.^[4] Voter turnout was 45.7%.^[5]

The Indian National Congress(pronunciation ) is a broadly based political party in India. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. Congress led India to independence from Great Britain, and powerfully influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.

Jawaharlal Nehru first Prime Minister of India

Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was a freedom fighter, the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. He emerged as an eminent leader of the Indian independence movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi and served India as Prime Minister from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. He has been described by the Amar Chitra Katha as the architect of India. He was also known as Pandit Nehru due to his roots with the Kashmiri Pandit community while Indian children knew him as Chacha Nehru.

Parties

Before Independent India went to the polls, two former cabinet colleagues of Nehru established separate political parties to challenge the INC's supremacy. While Shyama Prasad Mookerjee went on to found the Jana Sangh in October 1951, First Law Minister Dr. B. R. Ambedkar revived the Scheduled Castes Federation (which was later named the Republican Party). Other parties which started coming to the forefront included the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Parishad, whose prime mover was Acharya Kripalani; the Socialist Party, which had Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan's leadership to boast of; and the Communist Party of India. However, these smaller parties were unable to make an electoral stand against the Indian National Congress.

The Republican Party of India (RPI) is a political party in India. It has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by B. R. Ambedkar. The 'Training School for Entrance to Politics' was established by Ambedkar in 1956 which was to serve as an entry point to the Republican Party of India (RPI). The first batch of the school consisted of 15 students. Its first batch turned out to be last batch as the school was closed after Ambedkar's death in 1956.

Socialist Party has been the name of several political parties in India, all of which have their roots in the Congress Socialist Party during the freedom struggle.

Ram Manohar Lohiapronunciation (help·info), was an activist for the Indian independence movement and a socialist political leader. During the last phase of British rule in India, he worked with the Congress Radio which was broadcast secretly from various places in Bombay until 1942. In 1963 Lohia elected as the member Parliament for Lok Sabha from the Farrukhabad constituency, Uttar Pradesh from the Samyukta Socialist Paty.

Constituencies

The first general elections, which were conducted for 489 seats in 401 constituencies, represented 25 Indian states. At that time, there were 314 constituencies with one seat, 86 with two seats and one with three seats.^[6] The multi-seat constituencies were abolished in the 1960s. There were also 2 nominated Anglo-Indian members.

Results

Party	Abbr.	Votes	%	Seats
Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha	ABHM		0.95	4
Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad	RRP		1.97	3
Bharatiya Jana Sangh	BJS	3,246,288	3.06	3
Bolshevik Party of India	BPI		0.02	0
Communist Party of India	CPI	3,484,401	3.29	16
Forward Bloc (Marxist)	FB(M)		0.91	1
Forward Bloc (Ruiker)	FB(R)		0.13	0
Indian National Congress	INC	47,665,875	44.99	364
Krishikar Lok Party	KLP		1.41	1
Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	KMPP	6,156,558	5.79	9
Revolutionary Communist Party of India (Tagore)	RCPI		0.06	0
Revolutionary Socialist Party	RSP		0.44	3
Scheduled Caste Federation	SCF		2.38	2
Socialist Party	SP	11,266,779	10.59	12
All India Republican Party	REP		0.04	0
All India Republican Party	RPP		0.05	0
All India United Kisan Sabha	UKS		0.06	0
All Manipur National Union	AMNU		0.02	0
All People's Party	APP		0.03	0
Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party	CNSPJP		0.22	1
Cochin Party	CP		0.01	0
Commonweal Party	CWP		0.31	3
Ganatantra Parishad	GP		0.91	6
Gandhi Sebak Seva	GSS		0.01	0
Hill Peoples Party	HPP		0.02	0
Historical Research	HR		0.00	0
Hyderabad State Praja Party	HSPP		0.01	0
Jharkhand Party	JKP		0.71	3
Justice Party	JP		0.06	0
Kamgar Kisan Paksha	KKP		0.13	0
Kerala Socialist Party	KSP		0.1	0
Khasi-Jaintia Durbar	KJD		0.03	0
Kisan Janata Sanyukta Party	KJSP		0.01	0
Kisan Mazdoor Mandal	KMM		0.01	0
Kuki National Association	KNA		0.01	0
Lok Sevak Sangh	LSS		0.29	2
Madras State Muslim League Party	MSMLP		0.08	1
National Party of India	NPI		0.00	0
Peasants and Workers Party of India	PWPI		0.94	2
Peoples Democratic Front	PDF		1.29	7
Praja Party	PP		0.02	0
Punjab Depressed Class League	PDCL		0.01	0
Pursharathi Panchayat	PURP		0.01	0
Revolutionary Socialist Party (Uttar Pradesh)	RSP(UP)		0.02	0
Shiromani Akali Dal	SAD		0.99	4
S.K. Paksha	SKP		0.13	0
Saurashtra Khedut Sangh	SKS		0.03	0
Tamil Nadu Toilers Party	TNTP		0.84	4
Tail Nadu Congress Party	TNCP		0.03	0
Tribal Sangha	TS		0.11	0
Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress Party	TTNC		0.11	1
Uttar Pradesh Praja Party	UPP		0.2	0
Zamindar Party	ZP		0.27	0
Independents		16,817,910	15.9	37
Nominated Anglo-Indians		–	–	2
Total		105,944,495	100	489

Notable losses

First Law Minister B. R. Ambedkar was defeated in the Bombay (North Central) (reserved seat) 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.^[7]^:156 Dr Ambedkar then entered the parliament as a Rajya Sabha member. He contested by-poll from Bhandara in 1954 to try to enter Lok Sabha but again lost to Mr Borkar of Congress.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, popularly known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination towards the untouchables (Dalits), while also supporting the rights of women and labour. He was independent India's first law and justice minister, the architect of the Constitution of India, and a founding father of the Republic of India. In India and elsewhere, he was often called Babasaheb, meaning "respected father" in Marathi and Hindi.

Acharya Kripalani lost from Faizabad in UP as KMPP candidate, but his wife Sucheta Kripalani defeated the Congress candidate Manmohini Sahgal in Delhi.^[8]

Faizabad is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which forms a municipal corporation with Ayodhya. It is the headquarters of Faizabad district and Faizabad division. On 6 November 2018 the Chief Minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath, announced that the district will be renamed to Ayodhya and now it has also been approved by the UP cabinet. Faizabad is situated on the banks of river Ghaghra about 130 km east of state capital Lucknow. It was the first capital of the Nawabs of Awadh and has monuments built by the Nawabs, like the Tomb of Bahu Begum, Gulab Bari.

Uttar Pradesh is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populous state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was created on 1 April 1937 as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh during British rule, and was renamed Uttar Pradesh in 1950. The state is divided into 18 divisions and 75 districts with the capital being Lucknow. The main ethnic group is the Hindavi people, forming the demographic plurality. On 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttarakhand, was carved out from the state's Himalayan hill region. The two major rivers of the state, the Ganga and Yamuna, join at Allahabad (Prayagraj) and then flow as the Ganga further east. Hindi is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state.

The Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party was a political party of India. Established in 1951, it merged with the Socialist Party to form the Praja Socialist Party in the following year.

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.

Duration

While Indian Government's official websites and official documents assign the year 1951 to these polls, it is a misrepresentation because all territories except Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir voted in February–March 1952; no polls were held for Lok Sabha seats in Kashmir until 1967, and only Himachal Pradesh voted in 1951 for the first Lok Sabha because weather tends to be inclement in February and March, heavy snow impending free movement.^[9] The rest of the India voted only in February–March 1952 for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections. Polling was held between 25 October 1951 and 27 March 1952. The very first votes of the election were cast in the tehsil (district) of Chini in Himachal Pradesh.^[7]

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References

↑ "Lok Sabha Results 1951-52". Election Commission of India.
↑ "Statistical Report on Lok Sabha Elections 1951-52" (PDF). Election Commission of India.
↑ "Lok Sabha Elections Stats Summary 1951-52" (PDF). Election Commission of India.
↑ India has nearly 83 crore voters: Brahma
↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p. 572 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
↑ "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.
1 2 Ramachandra Guha (2008). India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy. ISBN 978-0-06-095858-9.
↑ David Gilmartin (2014). "Chapter 5: The paradox of patronage and the people's sovereignty". In Anastasia Pivliavsky. Patronage as Politics in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–152. ISBN 978-1-107-05608-4.
↑ India's first voter in Himachal Pradesh, by Gautam Dhmeer, in the Deccan Herald ; published 30 October 2012; retrieved 7 April 2014

v t e Elections in India
General elections	1920 1923 1926 1930 1934 1945 1951–52 1957 1962 1967 1971 1977 1980 1984 1989 1991 1996 1998 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
State elections	1920 1923 1926 1930 1934 1937 1946 1952 1954 1955 1957 1960 1961 1962 1964 1965 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1974 1975 1977 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
See also: Elections in Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal