1957 Indian general election

In today's article, we are going to delve into the fascinating world of 1957 Indian general election, exploring its origins, evolution and relevance today. 1957 Indian general election has been a topic of interest and debate for decades, capturing the attention of academics, experts and enthusiasts alike. As we dive into this analysis, we will examine the various aspects that make up 1957 Indian general election, from its historical aspects to its impact on modern society. Through this exploration, we hope to shed light on the different aspects that make 1957 Indian general election a fascinating and relevant topic in the contemporary world.

1957 Indian general election

← 1951 24 February – 14 March 1957 1962 →

494 of the 505 seats in the Lok Sabha
248 seats needed for a majority
Registered193,652,179
Turnout45.44% (Increase 0.57pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Ajoy Ghosh Jayaprakash Narayan
Party INC CPI PSP
Last election 44.99%, 364 seats 3.29%, 16 seats
Seats won 371 27 19
Seat change Increase 7 Increase 11 New
Popular vote 57,579,589 10,754,075 12,542,666
Percentage 47.78% 8.92% 10.41%
Swing Increase 2.79pp Increase 5.63pp New

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Jawaharlal Nehru
INC

Prime Minister after election

Jawaharlal Nehru
INC

General elections were held in India between 24 February and 9 June 1957, the second elections to the Lok Sabha after independence. Elections to many state legislatures were held simultaneously.

Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian National Congress easily won a second term in power, taking 371 of the 494 seats. They gained an extra seven seats (the size of the Lok Sabha had been increased by five) and their vote share increased from 45% to 48%. The INC received nearly five times more votes than the Communist Party, the second largest party. In addition, 19% of the vote and 42 seats went to independent candidates, the highest of any Indian general election.

Electoral system

There were 494 seats elected using first past the post voting. Out of the 403 constituencies, 91 elected two members, while the remaining 312 elected a single member. The multi-seat constituencies were abolished before the next election.

The elections were overseen by Sukumar Sen, the Chief Election Commissioner, who used the existing election infrastructure to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Historian Ramachandra Guha wrote "this general election cost the exchequer Rs45 million less than the previous one. The prudent Sen had safely stored the 3.5 million ballot boxes the first time round and only half a million additional ones were required."

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Indian National Congress57,579,58947.78371Increase7
Praja Socialist Party12,542,66610.4119Decrease2
Communist Party of India10,754,0758.9227Increase11
Bharatiya Jana Sangh7,193,2675.974Increase1
Scheduled Castes Federation2,038,8901.696Increase4
All India Ganatantra Parishad1,291,1411.077Increase1
People's Democratic Front1,044,0320.872Decrease5
Hindu Mahasabha1,032,3220.861Decrease3
Peasants and Workers Party of India924,8320.774Increase2
Jharkhand Party751,8300.626Increase3
Forward Bloc (Marxist)665,3410.552Increase1
Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party501,3590.423Increase2
Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad460,8380.380Decrease3
Revolutionary Socialist Party308,7420.260Decrease3
Praja Party140,7420.1200
Independents23,284,24919.3242Increase5
Appointed members11Increase1
Total120,513,915100.00505Increase6
Registered voters/turnout193,652,17945.44
Source: ECI
  1. ^ Six representing Jammu and Kashmir, two representing Anglo-Indians, one representing Part B Tribal Areas in Assam, one representing the Amindive, Laccadive and Minicoy Islands and one representing the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Results by state

State Total
seats
Seats won
INC CPI PSP GP SCF JKP BJS Others Ind. App.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1 1
Andhra Pradesh 43 37 2 2 2
Assam 12 9 2 1
Bihar 53 41 2 6 3 1
Bombay 66 38 4 5 5 2 4 8
Delhi 5 5
Himachal Pradesh 4 4
Kerala 18 6 9 1 2
Jammu and Kashmir 6 6
Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands 1 1
Madhya Pradesh 36 35 1
Madras 41 31 2 8
Manipur 2 1 1
Mysore 26 23 1 1 1
North-East Frontier Agency 1 1
Orissa 20 7 1 2 7 3
Punjab 22 21 1
Rajasthan 22 19 3
Tripura 2 1 1
Uttar Pradesh 86 70 1 4 2 9
West Bengal 36 23 6 2 2 3
Anglo-Indians 2 2
Total 505 371 27 19 7 6 6 4 12 42 11
Source: ECI

Detailed Results

Andhra Pradesh

PartyVotes%Seats
Indian National Congress4,906,04451.4737
Communist Party of India1,144,81112.012
People's Democratic Front1,044,03210.952
Independent1,835,80019.262
Others600,6866.300
Total9,531,373100.0043

Assam

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress1,184,70851.68Increase5.94%9Decrease2
Praja Socialist Party457,64319.96Decrease9.23%2Increase1
Independent415,21718.11Increase4.37%1Increase1
Communist Party of India235,04410.25new party0new party
Total2,292,612100.0012Steady

Bihar

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress4,450,20844.47Decrease1.30%41Decrease4
Jharkhand Party751,8307.51Increase0.10%6Increase3
Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party501,3595.01Increase2.65%3Increase2
Praja Socialist Party2,165,46221.64Decrease2.83%2Decrease1
Independent1,584,89415.84Increase2.76%1Steady
Communist Party of India502,7075.02Increase4.62%0Steady
Others51,4160.51Decrease6.00%0Decrease2
Total10,007,876100.0053Decrease2

Bombay

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress8,156,27248.66Decrease1.49%38Decrease2
Independent3,109,73318.55Increase6.58%8Increase5
Praja Socialist Party1,457,2038.69Decrease11.45%5Increase5
Scheduled Caste Federation1,354,4758.08Increase3.65%5Increase4
Communist Party of India1,055,0136.29Increase4.95%4Increase4
Peasants and Workers Party of India924,8325.52Decrease1.48%4Increase3
Bharatiya Jana Sangh566,0083.38new party2new party
Others136,7490.82Decrease4.14%0Steady
Total16,760,285100.0066Increase21

Kerala

PartyVotes%Seats
Communist Party of India2,267,88837.489
Indian National Congress2,102,88334.766
Independent932,27415.412
Praja Socialist Party438,4597.251
Revolutionary Socialist Party308,7425.100
Total6,050,246100.0018

Madhya Pradesh

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress3,967,19952.10Increase0.47%35Increase8
Hindu Mahasabha373,5034.91Increase4.60%1Increase1
Praja Socialist Party1,225,73516.10Decrease2.38%0Steady
Bharatiya Jana Sangh1,062,93613.96Increase9.02%0Steady
Independent608,4087.99Decrease3.94%0Decrease2
Others376,4414.94Decrease7.77%0Steady
Total7,614,222100.0036Increase7

Madras

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress5,094,55246.52Increase10.13%31Decrease4
Independent4,355,16239.77Increase16.62%8Decrease7
Communist Party of India1,101,33810.06Increase1.11%2Decrease6
Praja Socialist Party399,7893.65Decrease11.43%0Decrease8
Total10,950,841100.0041Decrease34

Mysore

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress3,219,01455.52Decrease13.42%23Increase13
Praja Socialist Party1,082,69818.67Decrease10.79%1Steady
Scheduled Caste Federation115,2141.99new party1new party
Independent1,152,53519.88Increase9.52%1Increase1
Others228,9793.950Steady
Total5,798,440100.0026Increase15

Orissa

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress1,776,76740.01Decrease2.50%7Decrease4
All India Ganatantra Parishad1,291,14129.08Increase2.85%7Increase1
Independent473,65610.67Increase2.02%3Increase2
Praja Socialist Party684,02315.40Decrease1.44%2Increase1
Communist Party of India214,9034.84Decrease0.93%1Steady
Total4,440,490100.0020Steady

Punjab

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress3,682,21951.26Increase8.50%21Increase5
Communist Party of India1,207,60016.81Increase11.77%1Increase1
Bharatiya Jana Sangh1,152,67216.05Increase10.45%0Steady
Independent807,70911.24Decrease7.40%0Steady
Others333,6304.64Decrease23.32%0Decrease2
Total7,183,830100.0022Increase4

Rajasthan

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress2,494,09453.65Increase12.23%19Increase10
Independent1,280,35627.54Decrease1.62%3Decrease3
Bharatiya Jana Sangh518,35511.15Increase8.11%0Decrease1
Others356,2787.66Decrease18.72%0Decrease4
Total4,649,083100.0022Increase2

Uttar Pradesh

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress10,599,63946.29Decrease6.70%70Decrease11
Independent4,918,41321.48Increase10.14%9Increase7
Praja Socialist Party3,511,15715.34Decrease2.50%4Increase2
Bharatiya Jana Sangh3,385,24714.79Increase7.50%2Increase2
Communist Party of India383,5091.67Increase1.32%1Increase1
Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad98,1380.43Decrease3.12%0Steady
Total22,896,103100.0086Steady

West Bengal

PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Indian National Congress5,031,69648.20Increase6.10%23Decrease1
Communist Party of India1,985,18119.01Increase9.55%6Increase1
Independent1,456,09813.95Decrease4.51%3Increase3
Marxist Forward Bloc665,3416.37Increase1.85%2Increase2
Praja Socialist Party590,6925.66Decrease5.26%2Increase2
Hindu Mahasabha561,7415.38Increase1.11%0Decrease1
Bharatiya Jana Sangh149,3511.43Decrease4.51%0Decrease2
Total10,440,100100.0036Increase2

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Voting

The first instance of booth capturing in India was recorded in 1957 in the General Elections of that year in Rachiyahi, in Begusarai's Matihani assembly seat.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-I" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 5. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-II" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Where booth capturing was born".
  5. ^ "In central Bihar, development runs into caste wall".
  6. ^ "Empty words in legend's forgotten village". Archived from the original on 13 October 2015.
  7. ^ "The myth of history's first booth capturing taking place in Begusarai's Rachiyahi".