General elections were held in India between 24 February and 14 March 1957, the second elections to the Lok Sabha after independence. Elections to several 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.[1][2] 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."[3]
Conduct
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]
Results
Results by state
| State | Total seats |
Seats won | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INC | CPI | PSP | GP | SCF | JKP | BJS | Others | Ind. | App. | ||
| style="background:Template:Party color;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;;" | | style="background:Template:Party color;;" | | |||
| 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 | |||||||||||
Andhra Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Bombay
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Madras
Mysore
Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Uttar Pradesh
West Bengal
Women performance in elections
Based on the published data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.[8]
Participation
| State/UT | Total seats | Women contestants | Elected | Women contestants (%) | Elected (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | Seats | |||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 43 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3.5% | 6.9% |
| Assam | 12 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6.5% | 14.3% |
| Bihar | 53 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3.7% | 9.4% |
| Bombay | 66 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3.11% | 4.5% |
| Kerala | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.7% | 0 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 36 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 6.6% | 8.3% |
| Madras | 41 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.2% | 2.4% |
| Mysore | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Manipur | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Orissa | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Punjab | 22 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.3% | 4.5% |
| Rajasthan | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tripura | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 86 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2.05% | 13.75% |
| West Bengal | 36 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11.59% | 1.1% |
| Delhi | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14.8% | 20% |
| Himachal Pradesh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| India | 494 | 45 | 37 | 22 | 2.96% | 4.45% |
See also
- List of members of the 2nd Lok Sabha
- Election Commission of India
- Booth capturing
- Category:1957 Indian general election by state or union territory
Notes
References
- ↑ Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-I. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
- ↑ Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-II. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
- ↑ India after Gandhi: the history of the world's largest democracy{{#if:Guha|, Guha}. Picador India(2022). ISBN 978-93-82616-97-9
- ↑ Where booth capturing was born(14 February 2005). Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ↑ In central Bihar, development runs into caste wall(21 September 2015). Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ↑ Empty words in legend's forgotten village.
- ↑ The myth of history's first booth capturing taking place in Begusarai's Rachiyahi. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ↑ Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-I. Retrieved 11 July 2015.