Parliamentary election in India 1951–1952

Elected first Lok Sabha 1951–19521957 →

(Share of votes in%)

 %

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

45.0

10.6

5.8

3.3

3.1

2.4

1.4

12.5

15.9

INC

SPI

KMPP

CPI

BJS

SCF

KLP

Otherwise.

Independent

The parliamentary election in India 1951-1952 was the first nationwide election to the all-India parliament after the constitution of the Republic of India came into force on January 26, 1950. The election lasted several months, spread over different days, began on October 25, 1951 and ended on February 21, 1952. More than 173 million people were eligible to vote and the turnout was 44.9%. Carrying out the election represented an enormous organizational and logistical challenge for the still young state, but it was managed in a remarkably orderly manner. As the constitution had only recently come into force, the organization of the election often had to break new legal and administrative territory. This created standards that for the most part are still valid today in elections in India and for this reason too, the preparation for the election is described in detail below.

The election was very clearly won by the Congress Party under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . With 45% of the electorate, it was by far the party with the highest number of votes and - greatly benefiting from its relative majority voting system - won more than three quarters of all constituencies. Among the opposition parties, the socialists performed best with a good 10% share of the vote, but only won 2.5% of parliamentary seats. At the same time as the election of the all-India parliament, there were also elections to the parliaments of the states.

prehistory

Desired election date in 1950

The Indian interim government ( first Nehru cabinet , photograph from January 31, 1950)

Sukumar Sen (1953), Indian chief election officer

The first preparations for the planned nationwide election began shortly after independence in 1947. In November 1947, the Secretariat of the Constituent National Assembly informed the provincial governments that a nationwide election based on universal and equal suffrage should be held as soon as possible. In preparation for this, the provincial governments were asked to draw up voter lists. A special organizational challenge was the exact registration of the millions of refugees from the national territory of Pakistan , which was created after the partition of India . On January 8, 1949, the constituent national assembly decided that the election "should be held as early as possible in 1950". The provisions on citizenship (Articles 5 to 9) and the formation of an electoral commission (Article 324, Election Commission ) came into effect on November 26, 1949, two months before the actual constitution came into force on January 26, 1950. The Chief Election Commissioner ( Chief Election Commissioner ) Sukumar Sen took office on March 21, 1950. It became clear, however, that the goal formulated in the previous year of holding the election as early as 1950 could not be achieved. There were several reasons for this: 1. On the one hand, no electoral law had yet been passed by the constituent assembly to regulate the election, 2. the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had not yet been specified by President Rajendra Prasad and the constituencies reserved for them could not be specified not to be determined, 3. the preliminary electoral roll-out had not yet been officially validated, 4. the legal requirements for constituency delimitations were not all in place, and 5. some states had not yet started preparing for the election sufficiently advanced.

Actual election date in 1951/1952

On April 20, 1950, the Representation of the People Act, 1950, was passed at first reading, which stipulated that all persons who were at least 21 years of age as of March 1, 1950 and had lived in the respective constituency for 180 days were eligible to vote. This meant that the electoral lists, which were on January 1, 1949, had to be completed. This dragged on over a longer period of time. There were delays in particular in the states of West Bengal , Punjab , Madhya Bharat and Rajasthan . The act mentioned did not come into force until July 17, 1951, after extensive and detailed regulations on the delimitation of the constituencies had been incorporated. During this time, the Chief Election Officer traveled all over India and visited each individual state to see how the preparations were progressing. On August 10, 1950 and September 6, 1950, the President specified the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in two decrees . Ultimately, the months October to December 1951 were set as the election date. At the request of Uttar Pradesh, the election was extended to January and February 1952. From August 1951, there were various events across the country at which employees of local electoral authorities were trained and trained so that they could properly supervise the elections in accordance with the statutory provisions.

Division of constituencies

When the delimitation commission ( Delimitation Commission of India ) established the constituency boundaries , the aim was to have only one member elected per constituency. The constitution stipulated that parliamentary seats were to be reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes (SC) or Scheduled Tribes (ST) according to their proportion of the population. In 10 constituencies, the population of the ST was so high that the whole constituency was reserved for them as a one-person constituency (this concerned one constituency each in Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, Rajasthan, Manipur, two in Bihar and three in Orissa ). Since the SC and ST nowhere formed the majority of the population in the other constituencies, two-person constituencies were set up in regions with a high proportion of the population of the SC or ST, with one of the two elected members of the SC or ST. There was also a single three-person constituency in northern West Bengal, in which an ordinary MP and a member of the ST and SC were elected. In the multi-person constituencies, the voters had two or three votes and had to put the ballot papers in a corresponding number of ballot boxes.

The following table shows the constituencies, subdivided into 1-, 2- and 3-person constituencies, as well as the seats reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes .

Distribution of constituencies (1 square = 1 MP) among the states

State	Total constituencies	Constituencies by seats			Seats reserved for		Elected MPs
		1 seat	2 seat	3 seat	SC	ST
A states
Assam	10	8th	2	0	1	2	12
Bihar	44	33	11	0	7th	6th	55
Bombay	37	29	8th	0	4th	4th	45
Madhya Pradesh	23	17th	6th	0	4th	3	29
Madras	62	49	13	0	12	1	75
Orissa	16	12	4th	0	3	4th	20th
Punjab	15th	12	3	0	3	0	18th
Uttar Pradesh	69	52	17th	0	17th	0	86
West Bengal	26th	19th	6th	1	6th	2	34
B states
Hyderabad	21st	17th	4th	0	4th	0	25th
Madhya Bharat	9	7th	2	0	2	1	11
Mysore	9	7th	2	0	2	0	11
PEPSU	4th	3	1	0	1	0	5
Rajasthan	18th	16	2	0	2	1	20th
Saurashtra	6th	6th	0	0	0	0	6th
Travancore Cochin	11	10	1	0	1	0	12
C states
Ajmer	2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Bhopal	2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Bilaspur	1	1	0	0	0	0	1
Coorg	1	1	0	0	0	0	1
Delhi	3	2	1	0	1	0	4th
Himachal Pradesh	2	1	1	0	1	0	3
Kachchh	2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Manipur	2	2	0	0	0	1	2
Tripura	2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Vindhya Pradesh	4th	2	2	0	1	1	6th
total	401	314	86	1	72	26th	489

The representatives of the 6 seats of the state of Jammu and Kashmir were, in accordance with the special constitutional status of this state, not elected but appointed directly by the president. One member of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and one member for the tribal areas in Assam ( Part B Tribal Areas of Assam ) were not elected, but appointed by the president.

Party symbols

Desires of the “national” parties towards the election commission regarding their symbols
1st Indian National Congress
- first preference: - second preference:	Plow with harnessed bulls Congress party flag with chakra
2. All India Forward Bloc (Ruikar Group)
- first preference: - second preference: - third preference:	Hand lantern hut
3. All India Forward Bloc (Marxist Group)
- first preference: - second preference: - third preference:	jumping tiger sitting lion a lion standing on a map of India
4. Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha
- first preference: - second preference: - third preference:	Swastika with sword steed and rider tree
5. Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party
- first preference: - second preference: - third preference:	Hut scales tree
6. Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad
- first preference: - second preference: - third preference:	Dairy cow with calf and milkmaid rising sun swastika
7. Socialist Party
- first preference: - second preference: - third preference: - fourth preference:	Plow tree hand umbrella
8. All India Scheduled Castes Federation
- only preference	elephant
9. Communist Party of India
- first preference: - second preference:	Hammer and sickle Ears of corn flanked by a hammer and sickle

When choosing, the problem arose that the literacy rate in India was only around 16.6% according to the latest census data. Over 80% of voters were illiterate, unable to read the names of candidates and parties. To counter this problem, the possibility of placing colored or symbolized ballot boxes in the voting booths was discussed. Each candidate should be assigned a color or a symbol. The possibility of different colors was discarded because it no longer seemed practical in view of the double-digit number of candidates in some constituencies. The electoral commission therefore opted for the variant with the symbols. Immediately understandable things from everyday life should be chosen as symbols. Some parties claimed to be not just a regional but a national party and demanded the reservation of a symbol that would be valid throughout India. The electoral commission had the difficult task of deciding on the basis of the arguments presented ad hoc which parties it should recognize as "national" parties and which only as "federal". 29 parties applied for recognition as a national party. On July 30, 1951, the Electoral Commission held a conference with the major parties in New Delhi. From a limited number of proposals, the parties formulated wishes or preferences for their election symbols. The electoral commission recognized 14 parties as "national parties". In addition to the national parties, 39 other registered parties took part in the election.

• Election symbols of the 'national' parties
• 

  two oxen under one yoke - Indian National Congress

• 

  Tree - Socialist Party

• 

  Hut - Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party

• 

  Horse and Rider - Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha

• 

  Rising Sun - Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad

• 

  Elephant - All India Scheduled Castes Federation

• 

  Ears and Sickles - Communist Party of India

• 

  Pick and Spade - Revolutionary Socialist Party

• 

  Torch - Revolutionary Communist Party of India

• 

  Leo - All India Forward Bloc (Marxist)

• 

  Hand - All India Forward Bloc (Ruikar)

• 

  Five-pointed star - Bolshevik Party of India

• 

  Oil lamp - Bharatiya Jana Sangh

• 

  Farmer pouring out a bowl of grain - Krishikar Lok Party

Election campaign

Supporters of the Socialist Party with an Urdu election poster and the tree as an election symbol of the SPI

BR Ambedkar speaking in Delhi on May 20, 1951

A voter in front of the ballot boxes marked with the symbols of the candidates

14 “national parties” with 1217 candidates, 39 other registered parties with 124 candidates and a total of 533 individual candidates ran for election. The parties belonged to the most varied of ideological or ideological orientations. By far the largest party was the Congress Party. Her reputation with a large part of the electorate was based on her role during the independence movement during the British colonial period and on the exemplary role of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi during this period. The undisputed leader of Congress was Jawaharlal Nehru, who had served as head of government since independence. Nehru represented the left, "socialist" wing of Congress. His inner-party counterweight, the former interior minister Vallabhbhai Patel , who represented more conservative views, had died in 1950, so that Nehru then essentially determined the party's course. Nehru basically mistrusted the western capitalist economic system or considered it unsuitable for India in its current state of development. The election manifesto of the congress party was accordingly decidedly “socialist”. Important industries should be under state control and the economy should be controlled and developed in a planned economy. During the election campaign, Nehru primarily attacked his political opponents in the conservative right-wing spectrum, whom he accused of communalism , feudalism , caste rule and backwardness. On the other hand, he publicly regretted having to campaign against the socialists, since among them were some of his best joys, whom he admired and respected.

On the left-wing political spectrum, the Congress Party faced several parties that had split off from it in the immediate aftermath of independence. On the one hand, there was the Socialist Party (split off in 1948) under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan , the Peasants and Workers Party (a smaller party in Bombay and neighboring states) and the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party ("Party of the Workers and Peasants") 1951 from a congress party faction around Jivatram Kripalani had been founded.

Further to the left of this, the Revolutionary Socialist Party were that had in West Bengal and Travancore-Cochin their focus, and he is still an orthodox Stalinist -aligned Communist Party , which had its focus in South India and West Bengal. The state of Hyderabad was a specialty. Here the communists had continued their uprising against the rule of the last Nizam even after the occupation of the state by India, so that the Communist Party was banned in 1948. Left-wing groups therefore founded the People's Democratic Front before the election , which was ultimately a proxy for the Communist Party.

On the right or conservative side, the three Hindu nationalist parties, Hindu Mahasabha , Ram Rajya Parishad and Bharatiya Jana Sangh, ran . The leading figure here was Syama Prasad Mukherjee . However, there was hardly any coordinated action by the three parties, so that each had its own election campaign.

Independent of the left-right spectrum, there was the Scheduled Castes Federation , which sought the votes of the underprivileged castes nationwide. There were also various regional parties that represented the interests of individual castes or population groups.

The Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) and the Communist Party formed electoral alliances, and the Scheduled Castes Federation formed an electoral alliance with the socialists.

Election procedure and costs of election

A ballot like the one used in the election. The ballot papers for the elections to the state parliaments looked identical, but had a dark brown horizontal stripe instead of an olive green one. "HY" stands for Hyderabad .

During the election, the voters were given an unprinted ballot slip with an individual serial number (or correspondingly more in two- or three-person constituencies). They could then throw this ballot into one of the ballot boxes, which were printed on the inside and outside with the names (in different languages) and the symbols of the candidates. So there were just as many ballot boxes in each polling station as there were candidates. The ballot boxes had previously been sealed against unauthorized opening with paper bands on which the respective candidates had to sign. Before the election, the voter's index finger was marked with non-washable ink, which was specially provided for this purpose. The voting procedure with one ballot box per candidate was retained in the following election in 1957. Then there were ballot papers that were printed with the names of the candidates and only one ballot box. During the election, 338,854 police officers were in charge of overseeing the election procedure.

The total cost of the 1951–1952 elections, with preparations since 1948 (adding up the all-India election and the elections to the state parliaments) was estimated at 10.5 crore rupees , or about 9.6 anna per voter. Almost 2.5 million steel ballot boxes had to be provided for the election (around 111,000 more made of wood were added), for the manufacture of which the Indian Ministry of Industry and Supply approved 8,000 tons of steel.

Eligible voters and turnout

One election took place in 396 of the 401 constituencies. For 10 seats there was only one candidate who was automatically elected. In the multi-person constituencies, voters had more than one vote. Of the 173,213,635 eligible voters, 105,594,495 votes were cast. Taking into account the double and triple votes in the multi-person constituencies, this corresponded to a turnout of 45.7%. Members of the Indian Armed Forces, as well as persons serving the government abroad, were allowed to vote by postal vote. A total of 296,828 postal voting documents were sent, of which a significant part could not be delivered due to incorrect or out-of-date addresses (especially for members of the army). Around 107,000 people exercised their right to vote by postal vote.

Turnout by state and union territories

State or Union Territory	electoral legitimate	available votes	votes cast	Participation (%)
A states
Assam	4,141,720	5,551,366	2,647,127	47.96
Bihar	18,080,181	24,671,649	9,992,451	40.35
Bombay	16,789,609	22,010,958	11,528,290	52.38
Madhya Pradesh	11,075,140	15,642,757	7,192,591	45.98
Madras	26,980,961	35.391.308	19.934.161	56.33
Orissa	7,708,161	10,340,076	3,659,493	35.39
Punjab	6,718,345	9,023,376	4,992,338	55.33
Uttar Pradesh	31.770.309	44.453.234	17,074,975	38.41
West Bengal	12,500,475	18,798,160	7,613,933	40.49
B states
Hyderabad	9,032,229	10,863,219	4,854,862	44.70
Madhya Bharat	11,075,140	5,568,553	7,192,591	45.98
Mysore	3,969,735	5,439,098	2,824,427	51.93
PEPSU	1,763,531	2,476,806	1,475,112	59.56
Rajasthan	7,676,419	9,183,626	3,526,957	34.40
Saurashtra	1,838,880	1,543,511	762.705	49.41
Travancore Cochin	4,210,244	4,915,842	3,490,476	71.00
C states
Ajmer	329.484	329.484	178,999	54.33
Bhopal	419,970	419,970	169.457	40.35
Bilaspur	68,130	-	-	-
Coorg	94,593	94,593	63,813	67.46
Delhi	744,668	1,132,521	655,900	57.92
Himachal Pradesh	531.018	881.455	223.189	25.32
Kachchh	288,400	288,400	119,580	41.46
Manipur	298,552	298,552	152,467	51.07
Tripura	329,806	329,806	157.371	47.72
Vindhya Pradesh	1,760,926	2,348,381	705.838	30.06
total	173.212.343	231.996.701	105.950.083	44.87

1. ↑ The tribal areas named in the sixth appendix ( Sixth Schedule ) appendix B of the Indian Constitution did not take part in the election. These areas included: North East Frontier Tract with Balipara Frontier Tract, Tirap Frontier Tract, Abor Hills District and Misimi Hills District, as well as the Naga Tribal Area (see Constituent Assembly of India Notification: The Constitution of India . In: The Gazette of India Extraordinary, New Delhi November 26, 1949, pp. 234 (English, nic.in [PDF]). ). Instead, a member of parliament was appointed as a representative by the President.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} In the one constituency of Bilaspur there was only one candidate, the former ruling Raja of the Princely State of Bilaspur , Anand Chand , who ran as an independent and was declared automatically elected.

Timing of the election

The elections began in the two constituencies of Chini and Pangi in Himachal Pradesh, where elections were held from October 25 to November 2, 1951, because the election was to be concluded before the first snowfall. The rest of Himachal Pradesh voted from October 25 to November 30, 1951. From December 10, 1951 to the first week of January 1952, elections were held in Travancore-Cochin (beginning in the constituencies of Thiruvella and Trichur). Elections also began in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Hyderabad and Punjab in December 1951. All remaining states voted in January 1952. The election in the northern mountainous sections of Uttar Pradesh (today's state of Uttarakhand ) did not take place until the second half of February, when the fallen snow had largely melted again and ended there on February 21, 1952. The results were announced separately in the individual states between February 9, 1952 (Madhya Pradesh, Saurashtra) and May 17, 1952 (Coorg).

Timing of the elections according to states and union territories

State or Union Territory	Election dates
A states
Assam	January 5th, 9th, 25th 1952
Bihar	4th, 5th, 7th-12th, 14th-19th, 21st-24th January 1952
Bombay	January 3rd, 7th, 11th 1952
Madhya Pradesh	December 22, 24, 26-29, 31, 1951; 2nd - 5th, 7th - 12th, 15th - 19th, 22nd, 24th January 1952
Madras	2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 21st, 25th January 1952
Orissa	20.-31. December 1951; 1-24 January 1952
Punjab	December 26-29, 1951; 1st, 2nd, 4th - 21st January 1952
Uttar Pradesh	January 22, 25, 28, 31, 1952; February 18, 19, 21, 1952
West Bengal	January 3-22, 25, 1952
B states
Hyderabad	December 21, 24, 27, 31, 1951; January 3rd, 7th, 10th, 15th, 18th, 1952
Madhya Bharat	3rd, 4th, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th January 1952
Mysore	2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th-13th, 15th-24th January 1952
PEPSU	7–12, 15–24 January 1952
Rajasthan	4th, 6-8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 22nd, 24th January 1952
Saurashtra	January 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 1952
Travancore Cochin	10, 11, 13, 14, 17 and 22 December 1951; 2nd to 5th January 1952
C states
Ajmer	January 12th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, 1952
Bhopal	January 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 24th, 1952
Bilaspur	-
Coorg	January 18-22, 1952
Delhi	January 14, 1952
Himachal Pradesh	October 25, 27, 29, 31, 1951; 2., 19. – 30. November 1951
Kachchh	January 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 25th, 27th, 29th 1952
Manipur	January 14, 17, 21, 24, 1952
Tripura	January 11, 14, 17, 21, 28, 30, 1952
Vindhya Pradesh	January 11th, 16th, 21st, 25th 1952

1. ↑ In some tribal areas of Assam there was no election (see above).
2. ↑ There was no election in Bilaspur (see above).

Result

Mandates won: Indian National Congress Communist Party Socialist Party Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party People's Democratic Front (in Hyderabad) Ganatantra Parishad (in Orissa) Scheduled Castes Federation (in Hyderabad, Bombay) Akali Dal (in Punjab, PEPSU) Hindu Mahasabha (in West Bengal, UP , Madhya Bharat) Bharatiya Jana Sangh (in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh) Ram Rajya Parishad (in Rajasthan) Revolutionary Socialist Party (in West Bengal, Travancore-Cochin) Peasants and Workers Party (in Hyderabad, Bombay) Tamil Nadu Toilers Party (in Madras) Krishikar Lok Party (in Rajasthan) Smaller regional parties and independents No choice


















Composition of the newly elected Lok Sabha (color scheme as above). The ideological orientation of the independent MPs cannot be determined with certainty. They are therefore placed in the middle of the political spectrum. 10 MPs were not elected, but appointed by the President.

1. Communist-Socialist Parties: 50 Communist Party 16 People's Democratic Front 7 Revolutionary Socialist Party 3 Peasants and Workers Party 2 Socialist Party 12 Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party 9 Forward Bloc (Marxist) 1 2nd Congress Party: 364 Indian National Congress 364 3rd Regional - and stakeholders, independents: 65 Ganatantra Parishad 6 Scheduled Castes Fed. 2 Akali Dal 4 Independent 37 Other Parties 16: Tamil Nadu Toilers 4 Jharkhand Party 3 Commonweal Party 3       Lok Sewak Sangh 2       Krishikar Lok Party 1       CNSP Janta Party 1       Travancore TN Congress 1 Indian Union Muslim League 1 4. Appointed by the President: 10 Appointed MPs : 10       Jammu and Kashmir 6       tribal areas in Assam 1       Andaman and Nicobar 1 Anglo-Indian 2 5. Hindu nationalists: 10 Bharatiya Jana Sangh 3 Hindu Mahasabha 4 Ram Rajya Parishad 3















      
      
      




      




      





Overall result

The result was an election victory for the Congress party across the board. Congress won just under 45% of the votes cast, making it the party with the most votes by a long way ahead of all other parties. Strongly favored by the relative majority voting rights, the Congress party won a three-quarters majority of the seats. In most states, it provided the vast majority of MPs. The only exceptions were the states of Madras, Rajasthan, Travancore-Cochin, PEPSU, Tripura and Bilaspur. In second place with 10.6% of the votes, the Socialists were able to win only 12 of the 489 seats (2.5%). 6 of the 10 constituencies won by the socialists were in Madras. For many observers, the communists performed surprisingly well and won 16 seats (3.3%) with 3.3% of the vote. This made them the strongest opposition party in parliament, ahead of the socialists. The constituencies won by the communists were divided between Madras (8 seats), West Bengal (5 seats), Tripura (2 seats) and Orissa (1 seat). There were also 7 MPs from the People's Democratic Front in Hyderabad, who could ultimately also be counted among the Communists. The Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, like the Socialists, remained far below their expectations with 5.8% of the vote and 9 seats (1.8%). Together, socialist or communist parties in the narrower sense won 50 seats (10.0%).

At the other end of the political spectrum, Hindu nationalist parties won 10 seats (including 3 Jana Sangh, 3 Hindu Mahasabha and 4 Ram Rajya Parishad). The electoral districts won were spread across the four northern Indian states of Rajasthan (4), West Bengal (3), Madhya Bharat (2) and Uttar Pradesh (1).

Several regional parties were relatively successful. These included Ganatantra Parishad (6 of Orissa's 20 constituencies), the Sikh party Akali Dal (4 seats in Punjab and PEPSU), the two caste-based parties Commonweal Party (3 seats), Tamil Nadu Toilers Party (4 seats) in Madras, and the Jharkhand Party (3 mandates), as well as Lok Sewak Sangh (2 mandates), who represented the interests of the Adivasi in the southern part of the country and the interests of the Bengali-speaking minority in Bihar .

Political party	Abbreviation	be right		Seats
		number	%	number	%
Indian National Congress	INC	47,665,951	44.99%	364	76.0%
Socialist party	SPI	11,216,719	10.59%	12	2.5%
Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party	KMPP	6,135,978	5.79%	9	1.8%
Communist Party of India	CPI	3,487,401	3.29%	16	3.3%
Bharatiya Jana Sangh	BJS	3,246,361	3.06%	3	0.6%
Scheduled Castes Federation	SCF	2,521,695	2.38%	2	0.4%
Ram Rajya Parishad	RRP	2,091,898	1.97%	3	0.6%
Krishikar Lok Party	KLP	1,489,615	1.41%	1	0.2%
People's Democratic Front	PDF	1,367,404	1.29%	7th	1.4%
Shiromani Akali Dal	SAD	1,047,611	0.99%	4th	0.8%
Hindu Mahasabha	ABHM	1.003.034	0.95%	4th	0.8%
Peasants and Workers Party	PWP	992.187	0.94%	2	0.4%
Ganatantra Parishad	GP	959.749	0.91%	6th	1.2%
All India Forward Bloc (Marxists)	FBL (M)	963.058	0.91%	1	0.2%
Tamil Nadu Toilers Party	TNT	889.292	0.84%	4th	0.8%
Jharkhand party	JKP	749.702	0.71%	3	0.6%
Revolutionary Socialist Party	RSP	468.108	0.44%	3	0.6%
Commonweal Party	CWL	325,398	0.31%	3	0.6%
Lok Sewak Sangh	LSS	309.940	0.29%	2	0.4%
Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janta Party	CNSPJP	236.094	0.22%	1	0.2%
Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress Party	TTC	115,893	0.11%	1	0.2%
Indian Union Muslim League	MUL	79,470	0.08%	1	0.2%
Other	Otherwise.	1,737,436	1.63%	0	0.0%
Independent candidates	Independent	16,850,089	15.90%	37	7.6%
total		105.950.083	100.00%	489	100.0%

Results by state

State	Seats	Congress party	Socialist / Communist Parties	Hindu nationalist parties	Other
A states
Assam	12	INC 11	SPI 1
Bihar	55	INC 45	SPI 3		JCP 3 CNSPJP 1 LSS 1 independence. 1
Bombay	45	INC 40	PWP 1		SCF 1 Independent 3
Madhya Pradesh	29	INC 27			Independent 2
Madras	75	INC 35	CPI 8 KMPP 6 SPI 2 AIFB (M) 1		TNT 4 CWL 3 MUL 1 Independent 15th
Orissa	20th	INC 11	CPI 1 SPI 1		GP 6 Independent 1
Punjab	18th	INC 16			SAD 2
Uttar Pradesh	86	INC 81	SPI 2	ABHM 1	Independent 2
West Bengal	31	INC 21	CPI 5 RSP 2	BJS 2 ABHM 1
B states
Hyderabad	25th	INC 14	PDF 7 SPI 1 PWP 1		SCF 1 Unhab. 1
Jammu and Kashmir	6th
Madhya Bharat	11	INC 9		ABHM 2
Mysore	11	INC 10	KMPP 1
PEPSU	5	INC 2			SAD 2 Independent 1
Rajasthan	20th	INC 9		RRP 3 BJS 1	KLP 1 Independent 6th
Saurashtra	6th	INC 6
Travancore Cochin	12	INC 6	RSP 1		TTC 1 Independent 4th
C states
Ajmer	2	INC 2
Coorg	1	INC 1
Bhopal	2	INC 2
Bilaspur	1				Independent 1
Delhi	4th	INC 3 KMPP 1
Himachal Pradesh	3	INC 3
Kachchh	2	INC 2
Manipur	2	INC 1	SPI 1
Tripura	2		CPI 2
Vindhya Pradesh	6th	INC 4	SPI 1 KMPP 1
D territory
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	1

After the election

After the election, international election observers paid their respects and appreciation to the Indian election organizers. All fears that the election would lead to excess violence and, in view of the more than 80% illiterate and politically inexperienced voters, would lead to massive irregularities and voter manipulation, had not materialized. The elections were generally judged to be free and fair. The achievement that the young Indian democracy had achieved here also became clear in comparison with the neighboring state of Pakistan, which had become independent at the same time as India. In Pakistan, the Muslim League firmly held the reins of political power and refused to develop into a democratic, multi-party system. The first nationwide elections in Pakistan did not take place until 1969 and promptly led to a serious national crisis (the Bangladesh war ).

The election result marked a great triumph for the Congress Party under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Congress Party had been the undisputed leader in the independence movement until independence. After the end of British rule, however, a number of groups either split off from Congress (e.g. the Socialist Party 1947/48, the Peasants and Workers Party of India 1947, the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, KMPP, 1951, etc.) or newly formed (the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh 1951, various interest and caste parties). In addition, the communists had clearly defined themselves as a party of their own. Most observers had expected an election victory for the Congress party, but it was unclear how clear this would be. By winning a three-quarters majority in parliament, Nehru felt legitimized to form a new cabinet ( Nehru II cabinet ), which consisted only of supporters of the Congress party (the previous transitional government had been a coalition of various groups). The opposition parties tried to draw conclusions from the election defeat and recognized the fragmentation of the opposition as the main cause of the defeat. In the election year 1952 the Socialist Party united with the KMPP to form the Praja Socialist Party , the "People's Socialist Party". The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha also negotiated an association, but this did not materialize. The Scheduled Castes Federation formed in 1956 in an effort to gain a broader electoral base, anew to the Republican Party of India . Further political alliances were prevented by the ideological contradictions.

Western observers were particularly concerned about the performance of the communists and the ideologically related left-wing socialists. The Republican governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey was quoted as an example as saying that “Asia is facing an even greater catastrophe (than the Chinese one)” - alluding to the recent conquest of mainland China by the Communists Party of China in the Chinese Civil War 1945–1949. Even if the communists established themselves as a permanent factor in Indian party politics, these fears proved to be unfounded in historical retrospect.

literature

• Election Commission of India (Ed.): Report on the first general election in India 1951–52 . (General). tape 1 . Government of India Press, New Delhi 1955 (English, 249 p., Nic.in [PDF]).
• Election Commission od India (Ed.): Report on the first general election in India 1951-52 . tape 2 . Government of India Press, New Delhi 1955 (English, 889 pp., Ernet.in ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on December 22, 2018 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence). 
2. ↑ With regard to voter turnout, the literature contains partly divergent information based on misunderstandings of the electoral process. Some authors (e.g. RL Park) do not take into account the fact that the voters in multi-person constituencies had 2 or 3 votes and thus come to a voter turnout of around 60%. Other authors do not seem to take into account the fact that in some parts of India (e.g. Jammu and Kashmir), MPs were not elected, but were appointed by the president.
3. ^ ^{A b} Sukumar Sen: Report on the first general election in India 1951-52 . Ed .: Election Commission of India. tape 1 . Government of India Press, New Delhi 1955 (English, nic.in [PDF]).
4. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter IV: The Time Table , pp.
5. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter VI: Delimitation of Constituencies, pp. 39-60
6. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter X: Materials for Polling , pp. 102ff
7. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter III: Composition of the Legislative Bodies , pp. 15ff
8. ↑ Prodosh Aich: The party-political situation in India . In: Bundesverband des DGB (Hrsg.): Trade union monthly books . December 1961, p. 710–719 ( fes.de [PDF] Short, but very superficial overview, also out of date.).
9. ^ The Greatest Experiment in Democratic History. January 13, 2015, accessed on March 6, 2017 (English, quoted from Ramachandran Guhu: India after Gandhi: The history of the world's largest democracy. 2007, MacMillan, London). 
10. ^ ^{A b} Richard Leonard Park: Indian Election Results . In: Far Eastern Survey . tape 21 , no. 7 . Institute of Pacific Relations, University of California Press, May 7, 1952, pp. 61-70 , JSTOR : 3024481 (English).
11. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter X: Materials for Polling , p. 104
12. ↑ Era of One-Party Dominance. (PDF) National Council of Educational Research and Training, accessed January 28, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter 5: The Electoral Machinery , p. 33
14. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter X: Materials for Polling , pp. 95ff
15. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter XIV: The Poll , p. 131
16. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter XIV: The Poll , p. 136
17. ↑ Sukumar Sen, Report, Volume 1, Chapter XI: The Election Program , pp. 107ff
18. ^ Canadian International Council: A Hundred Million Voted: The Indian Elections in Retrospect . In: International Journal . tape 7 , no. 3 . Sage Publications, 1952, pp. 173-183 , JSTOR : 40197729 (English).
19. ^ Richard Leonard Park: India's General Elections . In: Pacific Affairs . tape 25 , no. 2 . University of British Columbia Press, June 1952, pp. 130-139 , JSTOR : 2753531 (English).
20. ↑ Moral ally. Der Spiegel, February 20, 1952, accessed on January 29, 2017 (issue 8/52).