Reporting on the Second General Elections, the Election Commission states: “The Second General Elections were less of an adventure or novelty as compared to the first when even the most optimistic people had felt doubtful as to how far a large country which had only just attained its independence and had yet to settle down to a democratic form of government could successfully carry through a country-wide programme of democratic elections based on adult suffrage”.

However, the reorganisation of the States in 1956 introduced a considerable amount of uncertainty and at one stage it became doubtful as to whether it was possible to see through the legal and administrative formalities to enable the elections to be held according to the schedule.

It was in fact felt by some influential sections of the public that an amendment to the Constitution to extend the life of the first Indian legislature was an imperative necessity. But it stands to the credit of the Election Commission that it set its face boldly against any such contingency and achieved a seemingly impossible task, thereby averting a very bad precedent in the annals of new India’s constitutional history.

Thus the elections to the House of People and all the State Assemblies excepting for the Union territory of Himachal Pradesh and the Kangra district of Punjab, were completed by March 1957. The streamlining of the election machinery in the light of the experience gained during the first elections enabled the reduction of the period of poll from 17 weeks in the General Elections of 1951-52 to just over a fortnight in 1957.

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The Second General Elections created parliamentary history by putting the Communist Party of India at the helm of affairs through the ballot, in the southern State of Kerala. This event, more than anything else, has brought into clear relief the truly federalist character of India’s democracy.

An electorate of over 193 million, in the biggest democracy in the world, voted for Congress government at the Centre and in eleven States. Although the Communists failed to gain an absolute majority in Kerala, they could muster enough support from the Independent ranks to form a stable ruling party in Kerala and were assured of non-interference from the Centre. (The Communists, however, lost their dominant position in the mid-term election of February 1960 by winning only 28 out of a total of 128 seats in the Kerala Assembly.)

In the eastern coastal State of Orissa, neither the Congress Party nor its closest rival, the Ganatantra Parishad, could gain an absolute majority. However, the Congress Party managed to obtain the support of some minor parties and Independents in the Assembly to enable it to form the ministry. Subsequently the Congress combined with the Gantantra Parishad to establish a stable ministry in the State.

The magnitude of the elections surpassed even that of the First General Elections, which had to that date been acclaimed as the biggest democratic experiment in the world. The electorate increased by over 20 million and the number of votes polled jumped from 103.3 million on 112.3 million. The votes polled constituted 49.2 per cent of the voting capacity of the country as against the corresponding figure of 44.9 per cent for the 1951-52 elections.

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From the point of view of the Election Commission, the task involved the preparation of 510 million ballot papers, employment of a staff of over a million and the procurement of 296,000 steel ballot boxes.

To facilitate the smooth conduct of the elections, immediately after the reorganisation of States in 1956, the Commission revised the list of recognised State parties in terms of the newly constituted States. The position of the four all-India parties, viz., the Indian National Congress, the Praja Socialist Party, the Communist Party of India and the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, however remained the same.

In the case of State parties slight alterations had to be made according to the changed political map of India; but all the same the percentage minimum of 3 per cent of the votes polled in an area was observed as the standard for recognition as a State or Regional Party.

In the Second Elections the electorate chose its representatives from as many as 26 parties, from the small Mizo Union, restricted in its activities to a part of Assam hills, to the mighty Congress organisation.

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The Congress Party swept the polls in the Parliamentary election by securing 371 of the 494 elected seats or roughly 75 per cent of the House. Thus it slightly improved on its record during the First General Elections. In the State Assemblies the Congressmen numbered roughly 65.1 per cent of the successful candidates. This percentage was also almost the same as the corresponding one for the First Elections. The figures for the rest of the parties in the Parliamentary elections were almost negligible.

In the Assembly elections the three all-India parties other than the Congress viz., the Praja Socialist, the Communist and the Jan Sangh, registered a slight improvement over their performances in the 1951-52 elections. Among the other parties, Ganatantra Parishad in Orissa almost turned the table against the Congress.

Reviewing the Assembly election results State-wise, it is found that the Congress which has scored 90 per cent successes last time in the then Saurashtra State and Uttar Pradesh, failed to repeat its performance. But Madhya Pradesh came very near to giving the party that high percentage of success by choosing 232 Congress nominees in a House of 288.

Almost the same level of achievement was recorded by the party in Madras, Mysore, Punjab and Rajasthan, the respective tallies being 151 (out of 205), 150 (out of 208), 118 (out of 154) and 119 (out of 176) seats. The percentage of Congress successes varied form 34 in Kerala to 81 in Madhya Pradesh.

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The Second Elections have considerably strengthened the Congress position in Rajasthan where in the First Elections it had secured only a marginal absolute majority of 82 in an Assembly of 160.

But, perhaps, the biggest event of far-reaching importance, from the point of view of the Congress, was the success of the Congress in Andhra where it cut into some of the Communist strongholds and its reverses in Kerala; where it ran a lame second to the Communist Party.

While the Congress recorded a progressive victory in Rajasthan at the expense of the Jan Sangh, the Ram Rajya Parishad and the Independents most of whom were rulers of former Princely States, it failed to beat the challenge of the former rulers of princely State merged in Orissa, where the Ganatantra Parishad led by the Princes prevented the Congress from securing an absolute majority.

In fact, the Parishad gained some seats in Congress strongholds. In the mid-term elections of 1961 in Orissa, however, the Congress retrieved its position and gained an absolute majority inflicting heavy losses on the Parishad.

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As against the outstanding successes of the Congress in Andhra and Rajasthan, the two big States of Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, which in 1952 had voted solidly for the Congress, registered a marked decline in the number of Congress candidates returned. Another safe Congress area, Bihar, also returned a smaller number of Congress nominees than it did in the First Elections.

In Madhya Pradesh and Mysore, the Communists could make little or no impression. The Jan Sangh had its highest poll in Uttar Pradesh. The Hindu Mahasabha lost much of its importance in the Second Elections.

Reporting after the conclusion of the Second General Elections, the Election Commission observed:

“If the first general elections served to teach the vast number of uneducated voters what the vote means, the second general elections familiarised them with the exercise thereof with discrimination and understanding.

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Another welcome and remarkable feature that has already emerged is the implicit and growing confidence which the Election Commission and the election machinery in the State have come to enjoy in the eyes of the political parties and the general public.

Within the space of a few years, therefore, doubts which naturally existed as to the preparedness of the people for democratic self-government or the wisdom of extending universal adult franchise in a country with an overwhelmingly illiterate electorate have been completely dispelled.

All observers agree now that an election is no longer a merely novel entertainment provided for the electorate in the cities or the countryside but has come to be a serious political struggle between the contending parties and candidates, the outcome of which ultimately depends on the deliberate choice made by the electorate between the contestants.

The degree of political maturity displayed by the electorate even in many backward areas has indeed astonished many impartial observers and students of politics.”

The subject of elections is a dynamic one. It grows according to the surroundings and contingencies. In India itself the pattern evolved for the first elections has undergone a remarkable change and so will it be in the coming years till it attains perfection.