ELECTIONS IN INDIA: FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD GIGANTIC DEMOCRATIC OPERATIONS: ERA OF THE CONGRESS DOMINANCE The first

general election in India held in 1952 under the new Constitution looked like a truly gigantic popular operation. It was conducted on the basis of universal adult franchise in which 176 million voters were involved. It was so vast an experiment that 90,000 polling stations, 2,24,000 polling booths and 620,000,000 ballot papers had to be used for the election purposes. The work of election went on for about a hundred days for which the Government of India had to incur an expenditure of about Rs. 7,000,000. There were about 1,800 contestants for 485 elected Lok Sabha seats and some 15,000 for 3,283 elected seats of the State Vidhan Sabhas. Apart from a large number of candidates seeking election on some party tickets, there was a very high number of the Independents who sought to try their luck in the battle of the ballot box theatred in about 3,293 constituencies. It was estimated that if the electoral rolls were printed with 40 names on a foolscap size page, the papers pasted together would have measured 200 yards. '13 The first general election provided the first opportunity for the ambitious and politically disgruntled elements to try their luck either on the basis of a ticket secured from a major political party or to have it from any of the regional or minor political parties most of whom had come into being just in the changed political environment. It was due to this that apart from some major political parties like the Congress, Communists, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Socialists, some minor parties had mushroomed with the nomenclatures of Ram Rajya Parishad, Janta Party, Krishak Lok Party etc. among whom none but the Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) of Acharya Kripalani could leave a noticeable mark on the psephological map of India. This election also witnessed the rise and role of some regional or 'One-State Parties' ll like Akali Dal, Jharkhand, Forward Bloc, Gantantra Parishad, Peasants and Workers Party, People's Democratic Front etc. The results of the first general election showed that the Congress party emerged victorious in the elections to the Lok Sabha by capturing 364 seats. The overwhelming victory of the Congress party symbolised tke overwhelming defeat of all other parties. The Communists could gain only 26 seats, the Socialists 12, the KMPP 10,while all others failed to have any significant achievement to their credit. The non-Congress parties could not have a position of any recognition even if all of them were put together. Similarly, the Congress party swept the State Assembly polls. It failed to secure absolute majority in the States of Orissa, PEPSU and TravancoreCochin only. The Communists could have a noticeable gain in the States of West Bengal and Hyderabad. Although the Socialists contested a very large number of seats after the Congress 13. See Asoka Mehta : "The First General Election" in A.B. La! (ed.) : The Indian Parliament, p. 228. 14. This name has been given by Morris-Jones in his The Government and Politics of India, HI Ed., 1971, pp. 180 ff.