General election in India 1962
The parliamentary election in India in 1962 took place in the week of February 19-25, 1962. The Lok Sabha , the second chamber of the Indian parliament, was elected. At the same time, elections were held for almost all parliaments in the Indian states . The elections were won across the board by the ruling Congress Party, led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . The turnout of 55.4% was significantly higher than in the previous election in 1957 .
prehistory
Developments since the last election
Domestic politics in India had been relatively calm since the last election. Remarkably, the reorganization of the boundaries of the states in the States Reorganization Act 1956 had not led to any major tensions and disputes over the new borders, and the new states proved essentially stable. Between Andhra Pradesh and Madras , the 1959 Andhra Pradesh and Madras (Alteration of Boundaries) Act, 1959 corrected the boundaries with an exchange of territory. In 1960 the remaining bilingual state of Bombay was split up into the two states of Gujarat and Maharashtra with the Bombay State Reorganization Act , after prolonged agitation for the creation of Gujarati and Marathi- speaking states. In 1957, after years of unrest, the Naga settlement areas in the Indian north-east were combined into a single administrative unit, the semi-autonomous Tuensang and Naga Hills Area .
Based on the broad parliamentary majority, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was able to continue implementing his ideas of a planned economy-controlled economic development in India. However, the state dirigism and Nehru's foreign policy reference to the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries also met with increasing criticism within the Congress Party. The shortcomings of the planned economy became apparent in various places. In 1959, former congressional politicians founded the Swatantra Party , which called for more market-based policies and closer ties with the West, particularly the United States.
Tensions also increased with the People's Republic of China , especially after Nehru granted asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 after the Tibet uprising . The fate of Tibet and Chinese communist repression were followed with considerable sympathy in India. In the Indian northeast, China laid claim to territory that was under Indian control, and the border in the area of Jammu and Kashmir was also disputed.
In December 1961, only two months before the current election, was Nehru after Portugal persistently refused the Indian demands for return of its colonies on Indian soil to be followed, Goa and Daman and Diu occupied by Indian Army units. The campaign was short and successful and met with all approval from the Indian public.
Election campaign
In the election campaign, the Congress Party was able to rely on its reputation as a champion in the Indian liberation movement. In its election manifesto, the party advocated a “progressive, socialized economy in which all can participate”. The manifesto carried out the supposed successes of the third five-year plan, and the fact that the average life expectancy rose from an average of 32 years in the 1940s to 47.5 years now shows the improvement in living conditions that has been achieved. The congress spoke out in favor of a balanced promotion of agriculture and industry. The major and key industries should be state-run. With regard to international politics, the party reiterated its anti-colonialist stance and called on Pakistan and China to end the "illegal occupation of Indian territory".
The election campaign agitation of the Communist Party (CPI) was directed against three main opponents: Congress, which the party accused of having anti-people and anti-democratic policies . Second, the CPI turned against the socialists, who had sabotaged the mass movements of the people, and third, against the conservative or interest parties, such as the Swatantra Party, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Muslim League , which are parties of the extreme right dark reaction and obscurantism were characterized. The CPI sharply criticized the economic policy of the congressional government, which had invited the "British and American monopolists [...] the worst international exploiters" into the country. Cuba , Egypt and Indonesia , which had nationalized "many of the industries of their former exploiters", were named as role models . The “breathtaking achievements” of the Soviet Union, on the other hand, are a role model. In relation to the Indo-Chinese border dispute, the CPI spoke out in favor of the McMahon Line as the border and a peaceful settlement of the differences.
The Praja Socialist Party presented itself as a party of a democratic socialism. She accused the Congress government of weak leadership, which had led to growing frustration among the electorate and which hindered national integration. The socialists have been weakened by the continuing split in their movement. In 1955, the more radical left wing headed by Ram Manohar Lohia had set up its own business under the old party name ' Socialist Party ' (SPI) and all subsequent attempts to bring the party back together had failed. As a result, two socialist parties, PSP and SPI, competed in the election.
In the right political spectrum, which presented Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh (Jan Sangh) as guardian of national-Indian traditions and ancient Indian culture. She rejected socialist and state economic ideas and called for an end to the congress “mismanagement”. In terms of foreign policy, she mainly criticized the alleged appeasement policy towards Pakistan and the indulgence towards "communist imperialism".
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The liberal-conservative Swatantra party was not founded until 1959, but there were a number of important leaders in its ranks. Among them was the former Tamil chief minister and congressional politician C. Rajagopalachari , who advocated the thesis that India needed a large conservative opposition party to counterbalance the socialist congress. Rajagopalachari accused the Congress of abusing his political power to grant positions, licenses and permits to sympathizers and partisans in order to perpetuate congressional rule. The main criticism of the Swatantra party at the Congress Party concerned the field of economic policy. The state interventionism and the planned economy must stop. The planning commission as a "non-responsible over-government" should be abolished. In the planned economy thinking of the congressional government Swatantra believed to recognize a "drifting towards totalitarianism".
Of the numerous regional parties , Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the state of Madras , led by CN Annadurai , was the most important. The DMK came for a separate Dravidenstaat , Dravida Nadu 'one. The main points of criticism of this Dravidian movement were the supposed economic neglect of South India by the Indian central government in Delhi and the attempts to install Hindi as the state language in South India, perceived as cultural imperialism .
Regardless of the substantive and ideological differences, some unequal strategic alliances emerged during the election campaign. In the constituency of North Bombay , the communists supported the congressional candidate and defense minister Krishna Menon against Acharya Kripalani in a national election campaign . Swatantra joined forces with the CPI to take action against the congressional candidates in some constituencies. Despite their different views on the separatist tendencies in Punjab and Madras, Swatantra and Jan Sangh formed an electoral alliance in Rajasthan.
Change of voting mode and voting process
In the 1962 election, the mode of voting was changed in two main ways. In the two previous elections in 1951/52 and 1957, the voter in the polling station was given the ballot paper printed with only a serial number and then thrown it into one of the ballot boxes in the separate voting booth without marking it any further. There was one ballot box for each candidate, which was marked with the candidate's symbol. This voting system had worked well in principle, but it had some intrinsic drawbacks. For one thing, each polling station usually had to deal with a number of ballot boxes for the various candidates. Second, the voting system offered the potential possibility that a candidate's ballot boxes could be manipulated in a targeted manner. Thirdly, there was the possibility that voters would not throw their ballot papers into an urn in the voting booth, where they were unobserved, but rather take them with them and, for example, sell them to the agent of one of the candidates. For these reasons, the voting mode was changed so that in future there was only one ballot box per polling station and that the names and symbols of all the respective candidates were noted on the ballot papers. However, this had the disadvantage that separate voting slips had to be printed for each constituency. The voter threw the ballot paper marked in the voting booth and then folded into the ballot box under the eyes of the local polling officer. The new electoral process was first tried in the 1960 election to the Kerala Parliament and proved to be workable.
The other change concerned the abolition of the previously existing two-person constituencies. In the two previous elections, these constituencies were set up mainly in areas with a high proportion of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Schedules Castes (SC), with one of the two seats to be filled by this always reserved for an ST or SC candidate . These two-person constituencies were unpopular with the candidates because they were twice the size of single-person constituencies and therefore required more campaign and resources. In the two-person constituencies, voters had two ballot papers that they had to put in two different ballot boxes. However, many voters did not adhere to it or did not understand the voting process, so that in these constituencies all ballot papers had to be compared using the serial numbers to determine whether two ballot papers with the same serial number and suffixes A and B had landed in the same ballot box. In 1961, the two-person constituencies were finally abolished and replaced by one-person constituencies. An appropriate number of single constituencies were then reserved for ST and SC as required by the constitution.
Constituencies
| State / Union Territory |
Constituencies | Total constituencies |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| general | SC | ST | ||
| Andhra Pradesh | 34 | 6th | 3 | 43 |
| Assam | 9 | 1 | 2 | 12 |
| Bihar | 40 | 9 | 4th | 53 |
| Delhi | 4th | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Gujarat | 18th | 2 | 2 | 22nd |
| Kerala | 16 | 2 | 0 | 18th |
| Madhya Pradesh | 24 | 5 | 7th | 36 |
| Madras | 34 | 7th | 0 | 41 |
| Maharashtra | 36 | 6th | 2 | 44 |
| Mysore | 23 | 3 | 0 | 26th |
| Orissa | 12 | 4th | 4th | 20th |
| Punjab | 17th | 5 | 0 | 22nd |
| Rajasthan | 17th | 3 | 2 | 22nd |
| Uttar Pradesh | 68 | 18th | 0 | 86 |
| West Bengal | 28 | 6th | 2 | 36 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4th |
| Manipur | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Tripura | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| total | 385 | 79 | 30th | 494 |
- ↑ a b The figures given in the Statistical Report of the Indian Electoral Commission are given here. The Report on the third general elections in India 1962 gives slightly different figures for the number of SC and ST. The differences concern the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat.
MPs appointed by the President
On August 11, 1961, Dadra and Nagar Haveli became a union territory and after the occupation of the Portuguese colonial possessions, they were also converted into a union territory 'Goa, Daman and Diu' on December 20, 1961. Both Union territories did not take part in the current election, but were each represented by a member of parliament appointed by the President. Another six MPs were nominated to represent the state on the proposal of the parliaments of Jammu and Kashmir. In addition, there was one representative each for the union territories of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands , the island archipelago of the Amindives , Laccadives and Minicoy , the North-East Frontier Agency and the newly formed territory of Naga Hills-Tuensang Area in 1957 . The latter became a new state a few months after the election under the name 'Nagaland'. In addition, two MPs were appointed to represent the Anglo-Indian minority. A total of 14 members were appointed by the President, 6 of them, however, after direct nomination.
Voter and turnout
The turnout averaged 55.4%, but varied greatly between states. It was lowest in Orissa at 23.6% and highest in Kerala at 70.6%.
| State or Union Territory |
electoral legitimate |
Voters | electoral participation |
Invalid votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 19,007,856 | 12,302,352 | 64.72% | 3.21% |
| Assam | 4,942,816 | 2,607,519 | 52.75% | 4.30% |
| Bihar | 22.115.041 | 10,386,746 | 46.97% | 4.24% |
| Delhi | 1,345,360 | 924,885 | 68.75% | 3.32% |
| Gujarat | 9,524,979 | 5,526,904 | 58.03% | 4.33% |
| Himachal Pradesh | 711,596 | 252.965 | 35.55% | 3.98% |
| Kerala | 8.003.142 | 5,645,940 | 70.55% | 2.07% |
| Madhya Pradesh | 15,874,238 | 7.109.378 | 44.79% | 5.69% |
| Madras | 18,675,436 | 12,843,914 | 68.77% | 3.26% |
| Maharashtra | 19,396,233 | 11,721,955 | 60.43% | 4.89% |
| Manipur | 405.210 | 264,770 | 65.34% | 0.05% |
| Mysore | 11,353,892 | 6,733,403 | 59.30% | 4.67% |
| Orissa | 8,785,519 | 2,070,142 | 23.56% | 4.89% |
| Punjab | 10,745,652 | 7,028,778 | 65.41% | 3.46% |
| Rajasthan | 10,327,596 | 5,415,561 | 52.44% | 4.11% |
| Tripura | 480,609 | 326,605 | 67.96% | 2.30% |
| Uttar Pradesh | 36,660,759 | 18,703,934 | 51.02% | 4.24% |
| West Bengal | 18.005.635 | 10,038,533 | 55.75% | 3.04% |
| total | 216.361.569 | 119.904.284 | 55.42% | 3.94% |
The counting of votes in the Lok Sabha constituencies began immediately after the election. The last four constituency results were announced on March 7, 11, 14, and 18, 1962. These were two constituencies in Uttar Pradesh for which a recount had been ordered and the two constituencies of Manipur, where there had been logistical problems.
Results
Overall result
The election ended with a clear victory for the Congress party. With 44.72% of the vote she won 73.1% of the parliamentary seats. Although this was slightly less than in the previous election (47.78% and 75.8%), it was still a very large majority. Once again, the other parties failed to provide an effective opposition to Congress. Most notable was the performance of the Swatantra party, which was founded only three years ago but received 7.9% of the vote and 3.6% of the parliamentary seats, making it the strongest party in the conservative camp and the second strongest opposition party. All but one of the Swatantra MPs came from the five northern states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Punjab. Overall, the strongest opposition party was the Communists, who achieved 9.94% of the vote and 5.9% of the seats and thus gained something again. The CPI had its strongholds in West Bengal, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. 22 of its 29 MPs were from these three states. The Praja socialists fell significantly behind and only came fourth and fifth in terms of votes and seats. The Hindu nationalist Jan Sangh was able to increase its share of the vote slightly to 6.44%, but gained significantly in seats and tripled its parliamentary seats to 14 (2.8%). Of the regional parties, two nationalist-separatist parties were of particular relevance. The Tamil Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam won 7 of the 41 constituencies in Madras and the nationalist Sikh party Akali Dal won three of the 22 constituencies of Punjab.
| Political party | Abbreviation | be right | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| number | % | +/- | number | +/- | % | ||
| Indian National Congress | INC | 51.509.084 | 44.72% | 3.06% | 361 | 10 | 73.1% |
| Communist Party of India | CPI | 11,450,037 | 9.94% | 1.02% | 29 | 2 | 5.9% |
| Swatantra party | SWA | 9,085,252 | 7.89% | (New) | 18th | (New) | 3.6% |
| Praja Socialist Party | PSP | 7,848,345 | 6.81% | 3.60% | 12 | 7 | 2.4% |
| Bharatiya Jana Sangh | BJS | 7,415,170 | 6.44% | 0.47% | 14th | 10 | 2.8% |
| Republican Party | RPI | 3,255,985 | 2.83% | (New) | 3 | (New) | 0.6% |
| Socialist party | SPI | 3,099,397 | 2.69% | (New) | 6th | (New) | 1.2% |
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | DMK | 2,315,610 | 2.01% | (New) | 7th | (New) | 1.4% |
| Akali Dal | SAD | 829.129 | 0.72% | (New) | 3 | (New) | 0.6% |
| Forward Bloc | FB | 826,588 | 0.72% | 0.17% | 2 | 0.4% | |
| Hindu Mahasabha | HMS | 747.861 | 0.65% | 0.21% | 1 | 0.2% | |
| Peasants and Workers Party | PWP | 703,582 | 0.61% | 0.16% | 0 | 4 | 0.0% |
| Ram Rajya Parishad | RRP | 688.990 | 0.60% | 0.22% | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Jharkhand party | JKP | 467,338 | 0.41% | 0.21% | 3 | 3 | 0.6% |
| Revolutionary Socialist Party | RSP | 451.717 | 0.39% | 0.13% | 2 | 2 | 0.4% |
| Muslim League of the Indian Union | MUL | 417.761 | 0.36% | (New) | 2 | (New) | 0.4% |
| Ganatantra Parishad | GP | 342,970 | 0.30% | 0.77% | 4th | 3 | 0.8% |
| Lok Sewak Sangh | LSS | 281,755 | 0.24% | (New) | 2 | (New) | 0.4% |
| Nutan Maha Gujarat Janta Parishad | NJP | 195.812 | 0.17% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
| Haryana Lok Samiti | HLS | 118,667 | 0.10% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
| All Party Hill Leaders' Conference | APHLC | 91,850 | 0.08% | (New) | 1 | (New) | 0.2% |
| Other | - | 303.502 | 0.26% | 2.82% | 0 | 9 | 0.0% |
| Independent candidates | Independent | 12,722,488 | 11.05% | 8.27% | 20th | 22 | 4.0% |
| total | 115.168.890 | 100.00% | - | 494 | 2 | 100.0% | |
Results by state and union territories
The following table shows the elected MPs by party affiliation and state or Union territories.
| State / Union Territory |
Seats | Hindu nationalists |
Congress party |
Communist / left soc. Parties |
Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 43 | INC 34 | CPI 7 |
SWA 1 Independent 1 |
|
| Assam | 12 | INC 9 | PSP 2 | Independent 1 APHLC 1 |
|
| Bihar | 53 | INC 39 |
PSP 2 SPI 1 CPI 1 |
SWA 7 JKP 3 Independent 1 |
|
| Gujarat | 22nd | INC 16 | PSP 1 |
SWA 4 NJP 1 |
|
| Delhi | 5 | INC 5 | |||
| Himachal Pradesh | 4th | INC 4 | |||
| Kerala | 18th | INC 6 |
CPI 6 RSP 1 |
MUL 2 Independent 3 |
|
| Madhya Pradesh | 36 |
BJS 3 RRP 1 |
INC 24 |
PSP 3 SPI 1 |
Independent 4th |
| Madras | 41 | INC 31 |
CPI 2 AIFB 1 |
DMK 7 | |
| Maharashtra | 44 | INC 41 | PSP 2 | Independent 1 | |
| Mysore | 26th | INC 25 | LSS 1 | ||
| Manipur | 2 | INC 1 | SPI 1 | ||
| Orissa | 20th | INC 14 |
PSP 1 SPI 1 |
GP 4 | |
| Punjab | 22nd | BJS 3 | INC 14 | SPI 1 |
SAD 3 HLS 1 |
| Rajasthan | 22nd |
BJS 1 RRP 1 |
INC 14 |
SWA 3 Independent 3 |
|
| Tripura | 2 | CPI 2 | |||
| Uttar Pradesh | 86 |
BJS 7 AHBM 1 |
INC 62 |
PSP 2 CPI 2 SPI 1 |
SWA 3 RPI 3 Independent 5 |
| West Bengal | 36 | INC 22 |
CPI 9 RSP 1 AIFB 1 |
LSS 1 Independent 2 |
After the election
The election result allowed Nehru and his colleagues to feel confirmed in their policies. For the third time in a row since independence, the Congress Party had won the elections with high parliamentary majorities. On April 18, 1957, Nehru presented his new cabinet .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c 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).
- ^ Indian Election Commission (Ed.): Report on the third general elections in India 1962 . tape 1 . Government of India Press, New Delhi 1965, pp. 47 .
- ↑ The two exceptions were Kerala and Orissa, where the state parliaments were elected in 1960 and 1961, respectively.
- ↑ THE ANDHRA PRADESH AND MADRAS (ALTERATION OF BOUNDARIES) ACT, 1959. www.theindianlawyer.in, December 24, 1959, accessed on May 11, 2017 .
- ^ Bombay State Reorganization Act, 1960. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Indianbarassociation.org, April 25, 1960, archived from the original March 4, 2016 ; accessed on May 11, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Myron Weiner: India's Third General Elections . In: Asian Survey . tape 2 , no. 3 . University of California Press, May 1962, pp. 3-18 , JSTOR : 3023512 (English).
- ^ A b c d e N. CB Ray Chaudhury: India's third general election . In: The Political Quarterly . tape 33 , no. 3 . Wiley Online, July 1962, pp. 294-305 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1467-923X.1962.tb02737.x .
- ↑ Election Commission, Report, Volume 1, Chapter X: The Poll, pp. 62-75.
- ^ Election Commission, Report, Volume 1, Chapter II: The Constituencies, pp. 3-14.
- ^ Election Commission, Report, Volume 1, Chapter XII: Results of the Election, p. 84.
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