Indian Democracy, 1957

Abstract

Indian general elections have been described as the world's greatest experiment in democracy. Independence came to India in 1947 and in the second general election just completed some 494 seats in the Lok Sahha (or Lower House of the Indian Parliament) were contested and in the state legislatures some 2,996. To elect this large number of representatives the franchise was extended to some 190 million voters. Whereas in the first general elections of 1951-52 the voting took place over three months, in 1957 barely three weeks were given, from Sunday, February 24, to Thursday, March 14. To ensure efficient and orderly elections, an army of approximately one million officials was required, not counting attendant police and district officers. There were more than two hundred thousand polling stations which varied from elaborate offices in urban centres to straw shelters 6 feet by 6 feet in the remotest jungle villages. The right to vote was not denied to any one by reason of inaccessibility. Approximately three million ballot boxes were used. Since a majority of voters were illiterate, each political party was given a symbol. For instance the Congress Party maintained its nationally known symbol of a yoke of oxen. The Communist took a sheaf of grain and a sickle. The symbol of the Praja Socialist Party was a hut and that of the Jan Sangh a lamp. Other parties were given other symbols by the National Election Commission which was responsible for an equable and proper distribution. All parties seemed to have an abundant supply of paint, paper and ink, and while the coloured poster display compared favourably with that of 1951-52, this election was quiet and almost dispirited. Certainly indifference was not unknown. The Congress Party seemed to have access to unlimited funds and their loudspeaker equipment and anciliary mechanics dominated