7. What is a general election? When was the first general election held in the country ?
Answers
Answer:
General elections were held in India between 25 October 1951 and 21 February 1952. They were the first elections to the Lok Sabha after independence in August 1947.[1][2][3] It was conducted under the provisions of the Indian Constitution, which was adopted on 26 November 1949. Elections to most of the state legislatures took place simultaneously.
1951 Indian general election
← 1945 25 October 1951 – 21 February 1952 1957 →
489 of the 499 seats in the Lok Sabha
245 seats needed for a majority
Turnout
45.70%
Jnehru.jpg Noimage.png Jawaharlal Nehru with Jayaprakash Narayan (cropped).jpg
Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Ajoy Ghosh Jayaprakash Narayan
Party INC CPI Socialist
Leader's seat Phulpur Did not contest
Seats won 364 16 12
Popular vote 47,665,951 3,487,401 11,216,719
Percentage 44.99% 3.29% 10.59%
Wahlergebnisse in Indien 1951–1952.svg
Prime Minister before election
Jawaharlal Nehru
INC
Subsequent Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
INC
A total of 1,949 candidates competed for 489 seats in the Lok Sabha. More than 173 million people out of an overall population of about 360 million were eligible to vote,[4] making it the largest election conducted at the time. Voter turnout was 45.7%.[5]
The Indian National Congress (INC) won a landslide victory, winning 364 of the 489 seats and 45% of the total votes polled. This was over four times as many votes as the second-largest party. Jawaharlal Nehru became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of the country.