Question

Read the table on page 171 and describe the situation during the first general election of 1951​

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

Answer:

The first General Elections of India started on 25th October 1951 and continued till 21st February 1952. It was a landslide victory for the Indian National Congress and Jawaharlal Nehru became India’s first democratically elected Prime Minister

Explanation:

• The first Lok Sabha was elected in the first general elections of independent India.

• Since August 1947, the country was run by an interim legislature called the Indian Constituent Assembly.

• Elections were held on the basis of universal adult suffrage and anyone over the age of 21 years could cast his/her franchise.

• The 53 political parties contested for 489 seats. There were about 1874 candidates from various parties. There were 401 constituencies and some had multiple seats. In the 1960s, the multi-seat constituencies were done away with.

• Out of a total population of 36 crore, about 17.32 crore were eligible to vote. There was a turnout of 45% in the first general elections.

• The INC won the elections in a big way. It received four times as many votes as the second-largest party. INC won 364 seats and the Communist Party of India (CPI) was second with 16 seats. Almost 45% of the votes went in INC’s favour.

• Before the elections, a mock election was held in September 1951 since most people of the country were unfamiliar with the election process.

• The first Election Commissioner of India was Sukumar Sen.

• 2 members of the Anglo-Indian community were nominated to the Lok Sabha.

• Prominent winners were Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Sucheta Kripalani, Gulzari Lal Nanda, Kakasaheb Kalelkar, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, etc.

• B R Ambedkar lost to INC candidate Narayan Sadoba Kajrolkar in the Bombay (North-Central) seat.

• Ambedkar stood as a Scheduled Castes Federation (party) candidate. Acharya Kripalani also lost from Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh.

• Although elections started in October 1951, most of the country voted in January-February of 1952.