1957 Indian general election

The Indian general election of 1957, held from 24 February to 9 June, was the second election to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India.[1] They were held five years after the first general election, according to the provisions of the Constitution of India. Elections to many state legislatures were held simultaneously.

1957 Indian general election
24 February to 14 March 1957
All 494 seats in the Lok Sabha
248 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Shripat Amrit Dange Syama Prasad Mukherjee
Party INC CPI BJS
Leader's seat Phulpur Bombay City Central Bolpur
Seats won 371 27 4
Seat change 7 11 1
Popular vote 57,579,589 10,749,475 05,235,230
Percentage 47.78% 8.92% 5.97%
Swing 2.79% 5.63% 3.21%
Prime Minister before election

Jawaharlal Nehru
INC

 Subsequent Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru
INC

There were 494 seats elected using first past the post voting system. Out of the 403 constituencies, 91 elected two members, while the remaining 312 elected a single member.[2][3] The multi-seat constituencies were abolished before the next election.

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 45.0% to 47.8%. The INC won nearly five times more votes than the Communist Party, the second largest party. In addition, 19.3% of the vote and 42 seats went to independent candidates, the highest of any Indian general election.

Results

Results by Party
Lok Sabha elections 1957
Electoral participation: 55.42%		 % Won
(total 494)
Bharatiya Jana Sangh BJS 5.97 4
Communist Party of India CPI 8.92 27
Indian National Congress INC 47.78 371
Praja Socialist Party PSP 10.41 19
Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha ABHM 0.86 1
Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad RRP 0.38 0
Chota Nagpur Santhal Parganas Janata Party CNSPJP 0.42 3
Forward Bloc (Marxist) AIFB 0.55 2
Ganatantra Parishad GP 1.07 7
Jharkhand Party JKP 0.62 6
Peasants and Workers Party of India PWPI 0.77 4
Indian Union Muslim League IUML 0.18 1
People's Democratic Front PDF 0.87 2
Praja Party PP 0.12 0
Revolutionary Socialist Party RSP 0.26 0
Scheduled Castes Federation SCF 1.69 6
Independents - 19.14 41
Nominated Anglo-Indians - - 2

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.[4][5][6][7]

See also

References
  1. "ONCE UPON A POLL: Second Lok Sabha elections (1957)". The Indian Express. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  2. "Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-I" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 5. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  3. "Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-II" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  4. "Where booth capturing was born".
  5. "In central Bihar, development runs into caste wall".
  6. "Empty words in legend's forgotten village".
  7. "The myth of history's first booth capturing taking place in Begusarai's Rachiyahi".
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