India will witness the 18th Lok Sabha election on May 15 in which 97 crore people will elect their representatives from 543 constituencies. The data shows 6 per cent increase in registered voters from the 2019 general elections, and an addition of 2 crore young electors in the age group of 18 to 29.
Holding elections in the world’s biggest democracy is not a small feat. Let’s look at the history of national elections since the time of Independence, and who were the top leaders who shaped the future of the Indian democracy.
First Lok Sabha Election (1952): The first ever election in Independent India was held for 489 seats, representing 26 states, with over 17.3 crore eligible voters. The Congress won 364 seats, securing 45% of the total votes polled. The CPI and Socialist Party bagged 16 and 12 seats, respectively, and the Bharatiya Jan Sangh won only 3 seats. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first elected Prime Minister. The Lok Sabha, which was constituted on April 17, 1952, lasted its full term till April 4, 1957. The first Lok Sabha also witnessed 677 sittings (3,784 hours), the highest recorded count of the number of sittings, with GV Mavalankar as the first Speaker. Lok Sabha lasted its full term from April 17, 1952 to April 4, 1957. Before the elections, Nehru’s two former colleagues, Shyama Prasad Mookherjee found Jana Sangh in October 1951, while BR Ambedkar revived the Scheduled Castes Federation, which was later named as Republican Party.
Second Lok Sabha Election (1957): The Indian National Congress again won with 371 seats in its kitty out of the total 494 seats, divided across 17 states and Union Territories. Its vote share increased to 48% of the total votes polled. Other parties such as CPI, Praja Socialist Party and BJS won 27, 19 and 4 seats, respectively. Nehru was again elected the Prime Minister while there was no official Leader of Opposition during the second Lok Sabha. The 1957 election was the first one to be held after the enactment of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 under which states were reorganised and new boundaries were drawn along linguistic lines. On May 11, 1957, M Ananthasayanam Iyengar was unanimously elected the Speaker of the second Lok Sabha.
Third Lok Sabha Election (1962): Indian National Congress won 361 of the total 494 seats. However, its vote share was reduced to 45% from 48% in the previous election. Four other parties — CPI, Jan Sangh, Swatantra Party & PSP — won double digit seats. Nehru became the PM again, but his health started declining amidst the Sino-Indian war. After his return from Kashmir, where he went for recuperation, Nehru suffered a stroke and later a heart attack, and died on May 27, 1964. Gulzari Lal Nanda was appointed the interim PM, who was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri for 19 months before his death. Indira Gandhi then took over in 1966.
Fourth Lok Sabha Election (1967): Under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, the Indian National Congress won 283 seats out of the total 520 constituencies. But the party’s vote share was down to about 41%. It also suffered a major setback as non-Congress ministries were established in Bihar, Kerala, Orissa, Madras, the Punjab and West Bengal. Six parties won in double digits, with C Rajagopala Chari’s Swatantra Party winning 44 seats and emerging as the single largest opposition party. Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister for the second time.
Fifth Lok Sabha Election (1971): Congress under Indira Gandhi won 352 seats of the total 518 while the faction under Morarji Desai secured only 16 seats. Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister for the third time. On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court invalidated her 1971 election on the grounds of electoral malpractices. Instead of resigning, Indira Gandhi declared an Emergency in the country and jailed the entire Opposition. The Emergency lasted till March 1977.
Sixth Lok Sabha Election (1977): Bharatiya Lok Dal or Janata Dal emerged a winner, defeating Congress for the first time. The BLD was formed at the end of 1974 with the coalition of seven parties, including the Swatantra Party, the Utkal Congress, the Bharatiya Kranti Dal, and the Socialist Party. The BLD won 295 of the 542 seats while the Congress bagged only 154. Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister, but had to step down in 1979 after alliance partners withdrew support. He was succeeded by Charan Singh.
Seventh Lok Sabha Election (1980): The Congress came riding to power by securing 353 seats of the 529 seats, while the Janata Party could manage only 32 seats.
Eighth Lok Sabha Election (1984): Indira Gandhi’s assassination led to anti-Sikh riots in 1984. The Congress came to power with a landslide win due to sympathy for Indira Gandhi, and her son Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister. It won 414 of the 514 seats.
Ninth Lok Sabha Election (1989): Amidst the Bofors scandal, rising terrorism in Punjab, and civil war between LTTE and Sri Lankan government, Congress began to lose credibility and popularity. The elections were held in two phases on November 22 and November 26, 1989 for 525 seats in the Lok Sabha. India saw hung house for the first time, with the Congress winning 197 seats, Janata Dal 143 and BJP 85. The Janata Dal formed the National Front government with outside support from BJP and the left parties. VP Singh became the Prime Minister. Chandra Shekhar broke away from Janata Dal in 1990 and formed the Samajwadi Janata Party. He became the 11th Prime Minister, and finally resigned on March 6, 1991.
10th Lok Sabha Election (1991): Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE ahead of the 1991 general elections. The Mandal Commission fallout and the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid became the two pivotal issues of the elections. The Mandal Commission report implemented by the VP Singh government gave 27% reservation to the OBCs in government jobs, and Mandir issue became a major electoral issue. Several riots broke out in the country on the Ram Mandir issue, and the electorate was polarised on caste and religious lines. No party could get a majority. Congress emerged as the single largest party with 244 seats while the BJP won 120, and Janata Dal came a distant third with 59 seats. PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress was sworn in as the Prime Minister.
11th Lok Sabha Election (1996): The BJP won 161 seats, Congress 140 and Janata Dal 46 of the total 543 constituencies. Regional parties began to come to fore, and won 129 seats. Prominent among them were TDP, Shiv Sena and DMK. The President invited the BJP to form the government, which attempted to build a coalition. But could not go far and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to resign as the PM in 13 days. Out of nowhere, HD Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister and he lasted for 18 months before he had to step down and make way for IK Gujral, who was the stopgap arrangement.
12th Lok Sabha Election (1998): The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 182 seats out of 543 constituencies. Congress won 141 and the other regional parties won 101 seats. The BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with other regional parties. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister for the second time. His government couldn’t last and he had to resign after 13 months after AIADMK withdrew support. Nuclear tests at Pokhran, Kargil war were some of the important incidents in this term.
13th Lok Sabha Election (1999): Amidst the Kargil war, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 182 seats, and Congress securing 114 seats only. Region parties performed well with 158 seats in its kitty. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time.
14th Lok Sabha Election (2004): The economy showed steady growth during the BJP rule and the disinvestment of PSUs was on track. The Foreign Exchange Reserves of India stood at more than $100 billion. The service sector had also generated a lot of jobs. The BJP fought the elections as part of the NDA, although some of its seat-sharing agreements were made with strong regional parties outside of the NDA such as the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. But the Congress was able to put together a comfortable majority of more than 335 members out of 543 (including external support from BSP, SP, MDMK and the Left front) under the direction of Sonia Gandhi. This post-poll alliance was called the United Progressive Alliance. Sonia Gandhi refused to become the Prime Minister amidst the controversy about her foreign origin, and Manmohan Singh instead was chosen as the PM.
15th Lok Sabha Election (2009): The Congress-led UPA started the Right to Information and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, along with waiving farm loans in 2008. The Congress won 206 seats and the BJP secured 116 while the regional parties won 146 seats. Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the second time.
16th Lok Sabha Election (2014): The UPA-II term was fraught with 2G, coal block, Adarsh scams, and Commonwealth Games scams. Amidst the perception of the Prime Minister, BJP projected Narendra Modi as the man of the hour. Congress’ Prime Ministerial candidate Rahul Gandhi was nowhere a match to Modi. The BJP won on its own with 282 seats while the Congress recorded its worst ever performance with just 44 seats. AIADMK, AITC and BJD won 37, 34 and 20 seats. A total of 551.3 million people — or 66.38% of the total electorate — came out to vote in an election spread a little over a month in nine phases. Top leaders Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari won from Madhya Pradesh and Nagpur, respectively. BJP and its allies won 71 of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, and all 25 seats in Rajasthan.
17th Lok Sabha Election (2019): Riding on the ‘Modi wave’, the BJP increased the mandate with 303 seats and 350 with the NDA, while Congress faced a rout with only 52 seats. Narendra Modi became only the third person in India’s history to have secured a single party majority two times in a row, after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Congress President Rahul Gandhi lost from Amethi. Not just the Hindi heartland, the BJP swept West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The party increased its vote share to over 50% in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana. It thwarted the BSP-SP Mahagathbandan in Uttar Pradesh.