Useful notes on he Third General Election of India (1962)

The most outstanding aspect of the results of the Third General Elections was the clear mandate which the Congress Party, led by Prime Minister Nehru, received once again from the electorate to continue its uninterrupted rule of the country for another five years.

An equally important but depressing aspect was that after sixteen years of parliamentary democracy, the Nation had not yet found an Opposition Party of national importance to provide an alternative to the Congress in the foreseeable future.

On the national front, however, there were two significant developments: first, the decline of the Praja Socialist Party which until then held the position of the leading Opposition and secondly, the emergence of the Swatantra Party as one of the two leading parties in the opposition.

The total strength of the electorate for the Third General Elections was over 216 million as against 193 million in 1957. Polling was held for 489 seats in the Lok Sabha embracing practically the entire country and 3,121 seats in the State Assemblies.

The only two State Assemblies for which there were no general elections in 1962 were those of Kerala and Orissa as in the case of both these States mid-term elections were held in 1960 and 1961 respectively.

A total of over 114 million votes were cast, approximately 53 per cent of the total electorate. This shows the unmistakable trend of the steadily increasing interest of the electorate to participate in the democratic process.

In the Third General Elections the Communist Party secured the second place with 9.96 per cent of the total votes polled. This was indeed an impressive performance in view of the fact that in 1952 the party had secured only 3.3 per cent of the total votes polled. On a closer examination, however, it would become clear that between 1957 and 1962 the party has lost its momentum.

For, in 1957 it had secured 8.92 per cent of the total votes polled an almost three-fold increase on its figure of the First General Elections? In the Lok Sabha the party won 29 seats, just 2 more than in 1957. In the State Assemblies its share was 184.

The Communist strength was mainly confined to three States, namely, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. The party has, however, made some gains in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab.

The Third General Elections has shown the decisive decline of the Praja Socialist Party which could secure only 6.84 per cent of the total votes, about 4 per cent less than what it secured in 1957. The party could win only 12 seats in the Lok Sabha as against 19 in the earlier election.

A total of 179 seats were the party’s share in the State Assemblies as against 208 in 1957. It lost practically all its electoral support in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Madras and Rajasthan, halved its strength in Bihar, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh and lost heavily in most of the other States.

As a new all-India party, contesting General Elections for the first time, the record of the Swatantra Party in 1962 was quite impressive. The party secured 6.85 per cent of the total votes polled and earned the second leading position among the opposition parties.

In the Lok Sabha it secured 18 seats and in the State Assemblies a total of 166 seats. But more important than the 166 seats was the fact that the Swatantra became the leading opposition party in three State Assemblies, namely, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar. With the merger of the Ganatantra Parishad in Swatantra, in Orissa too the party became the leading opposition.

Although the Jan Sangh has increased its percentage from 5.93 in 1957 to 6.44 in 1962 of the total votes polled, the Third General Elections conclusively proved that it was not really an all-India party. For, its strength was confined only to the Hindi-speaking areas of Northern India.

The party secured 14 seats in the Lok Sabha as against 4 in 1957, an impressive increase when considered on a percentage basis. Similarly, its total in State Assemblies advanced from 46 in 1957 to 116 in 1961. But most of these were concentrated in three States only, namely, Uttar Pradesh, 49; Madhya Pradesh, 41; and Rajasthan, 15.

Although the Third General Elections witnessed an increase in the number of all-India parties from 4 to 5, the number of regional parties registered a substantial fall. There were only about a dozen such parties which deserve even a mention in this context.

Of these, the only party which made a significant, even spectacular, gain was the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (D.M.K.) of Madras. Out of a total of 206 seats in the State Assembly, the party captured 50 and out of total 41 seats in the Lok Sabha it secured 7. Thus the D.M.K. established itself as the leading opposition party in Madras.

Communal parties like the Akali Dal, the Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Ram Rajya Parishad have been steadily losing their appeal to the electorate.

Each of them had been able to secure only a few seats. Similarly, parties like the Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Republican Party, Peasants and Workers Party and the Jharkhand Party (of Bihar) also lost considerable ground between 1959 and 1962.

The Socialist Party, a break away group of the P.S.P., had some successes in a few of the Northern States but not significant enough to create any new trend. Viewed in general the regional parties were certainly on the decline and their influence in years to come was destined to dwindle.

The number of Independents had also registered a significant decline both in the number of seats contested and the seats won. For example, in the Lok Sabha they held 36 seats in 1952 but the corresponding figures in 1957 and 1962 were 25 and 24 respectively.

In comparison with the two previous General Elections, there was substantial improvement in the manner in which the elections were conducted. The polling throughout the country (except few constituencies in the snow-bound Himalayan regions) was complete in five days and the results were declared in the next three days.

This in itself was a remarkable organisational feat in view of the elaborate arrangements required for the conduct of a colossal task involving over 200 million people, Apart from substantially reducing the period of polling, the Commission brought into effect another significant improvement by introducing the marking system.

This system eliminated many of the corrupt practices which existed under the old system of a separate ballot box for each candidate. There was considerable anxiety that the marking system might prove a failure due to widespread illiteracy among the electorate. But on the whole, it proved a success.

The Election Commission deserves also a tribute, for the meticulous manner in which the arrangements connected with the elections were worked out. And the Indian people have shown how they could conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner in a nation-wide popular exercise like this which forms one of the foundations of democracy in India.