A Synopsis of the History of Lok Sabha Elections Since Independence: From Congress Conquest to Modi Wave

On May 15th, India’s 18th Lok Sabha election will take place, with 97 crore voters choosing MPs from 543 seats. The information reveals a 6% rise in registered voters from the general elections of 2019 as well as the inclusion of 2 crore young voters, or those between the ages of 18 and 29.

It is no mean achievement, to hold elections in the largest democracy in the world. Let’s examine the history of national elections in India since the country’s independence as well as the prominent figures who influenced the country’s democratic destiny.

1952 was the first Lok Sabha election.
With nearly 17.3 crore eligible voters, the first election in independent India was conducted for 489 seats, representing 26 states. With 364 seats gained, or 45% of the total votes cast, the Congress secured victory. The Bharatiya Jan Sangh secured a mere 3 seats, while the CPI and Socialist Party secured 16 and 12 seats, respectively. Jawaharlal Nehru, a Pandit, was the first elected Prime Minister. The Lok Sabha was established on April 17, 1952, and it convened for its whole time until April 4, 1957. With GV Mavalankar as the first Speaker, the first Lok Sabha also had 677 sittings (3,784 hours), the largest number of sittings ever recorded. The whole tenure of the Lok Sabha was from April 17, 1952, to April 4, 1957. Before the elections, BR Ambedkar revitalized the Scheduled Castes Federation, which was subsequently renamed the Republican Party, and Nehru’s two former colleagues, Shyama Prasad Mookherjee and Ambedkar, founded Jana Sangh in October 1951.

1957’s Second Lok Sabha Election
With 371 seats in its kitty out of a total of 494 seats, distributed across 17 states and Union Territories, the Indian National Congress triumphed once again. Its percentage of the total votes cast rose to 48%. Additional seats were obtained by the CPI, BJS, and Praja Socialist Party, which were 27, 19, and 4 seats, respectively. During the second Lok Sabha, Nehru was re-elected as Prime Minister in the absence of a formal Leader of the Opposition. Following the passage of the States Reorganization Act, 1956, which reorganized the states and drew new borders based on language distinctions, the 1957 election was the first to be conducted. M. Ananthasayanam Iyengar was overwhelmingly chosen to serve as the second Lok Sabha’s speaker on May 11, 1957.

In the 1962 Third Lok Sabha Election, the Indian National Congress won 361 out of 494 seats. Its vote share did, however, drop from 48% in the previous election to 45%. Four other parties secured double digit seats: PSP, Jan Sangh, CPI, and Swatantra Party. Nehru was back in power as prime minister, but during the Sino-Indian War, his health began to deteriorate. Following his return from his rehab trip to Kashmir, Nehru had a heart attack and a stroke before passing away on May 27, 1964. Interim Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda was followed by Lal Bahadur Shastri for 19 months before his demise. In 1966, Indira Gandhi took the helm.

Fourth Lok Sabha Election (1967): With 283 seats out of 520 total seats, the Indian National Congress won under Indira Gandhi’s leadership. However, the party had only received roughly 41% of the vote. Another significant blow to it was the establishment of non-Congress ministries in West Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, Orissa, Madras, and the Punjab. Six parties received double digit victories, with C Rajagopala Chari’s Swatantra Party finishing as the strongest opposition party with 44 seats. For the second time, Indira Gandhi assumed the position of prime minister.

In the Fifth Lok Sabha Election (1971), the Morarji Desai side only managed to capture 16 seats, while the Congress, led by Indira Gandhi, won 352 of the 518 total seats. For the third time, Indira Gandhi assumed the office of prime minister. Due to irregularities in the voting process, the Allahabad High Court declared her 1971 election to be void on June 12, 1975. Indira Gandhi imprisoned the whole opposition and proclaimed a state of emergency rather than stepping down. Up until March 1977, there was an emergency.

1977’s Sixth Lok Sabha Election
For the first time, Bharatiya Lok Dal, often known as Janata Dal, triumphed over the Congress party. Seven parties, including the Socialist Party, the Utkal Congress, the Swatantra Party, and the Bharatiya Kranti Dal, came together to establish the BLD at the close of 1974. Of the 542 seats, the BLD got 295, while the Congress only managed to win 154. Prime Minister Morarji Desai was forced to resign in 1979 due to the withdrawal of support from coalition partners. Charan Singh succeeded him.

1980’s Seventh Lok Sabha Election
With 353 out of 529 seats won, the Congress easily won majority control, with the Janata Party only managing 32 seats.

1984’s Eighth Lok Sabha Election
1984 saw anti-Sikh rioting after the killing of Indira Gandhi. Sympathy for Indira Gandhi led to a resounding victory for the Congress, and her son Rajiv Gandhi was appointed prime minister. Out of the 514 seats, it won 414.

1989’s Ninth Lok Sabha Election
Congress started to lose trust and support during the Bofors affair, an increase in terrorism in Punjab, and a civil war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. The Lok Sabha’s 525 seats were up for election in two stages on November 22, 1989, and November 26, 1989. The first ever hung house was seen in India, as the Congress secured 197 seats, the BJP 85, and the Janata Dal 143. The left parties and the BJP provided outside support for the Janata Dal to build the National Front administration. Singh took over as prime minister. In 1990, Chandra Shekhar founded the Samajwadi Janata Party after leaving the Janata Dal. He was appointed as the eleventh prime minister and left office on March 6, 1991.

Tenth Lok Sabha Poll (1991)
The LTTE killed Rajiv Gandhi in the run-up to the national elections in 1991. The two main electoral concerns turned out to be the aftermath of the Mandal Commission and the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid. The Mandir issue became a significant political issue when the VP Singh administration enacted the Mandal Commission findings, which granted OBCs a 27% quota in government positions. The Ram Mandir controversy sparked several riots around the nation, and caste and religion divisions were evident in the voters. There was no majority for any party. With 244 seats, the Congress became the single biggest party, followed by the BJP with 120 and Janata Dal in third place with 59 seats. The Congressman PV Narasimha Rao took the oath of office as prime minister.

Eleventh Lok Sabha Poll (1996)
Of the 543 seats altogether, the BJP won 161, the Congress 140, and Janata Dal 46. Regional parties gained 129 seats as they started to gain traction. TDP, Shiv Sena, and DMK were prominent parties among them. In an effort to forge a coalition, the President asked the BJP to form the government. but was unable to proceed, forcing Atal Bihari Vajpayee to step down as prime minister after 13 days. HD Deve Gowda emerged as the unexpected prime minister and held the position for eighteen months until being forced to resign and give way to IK Gujral, who served as a temporary replacement.

Election of the 12th Lok Sabha (1998)
Having won 182 of the 543 seats, the BJP was the single biggest party. The other regional parties received 101 seats, while Congress won 141. Together with other regional parties, the BJP founded the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). For the second time, Atal Bihari Vajpayee assumed the role of prime minister. After the AIADMK lost support, he was forced to quit after 13 months of his administration failing to hold. Among the significant events of this era were the nuclear testing at Pokhran and the Kargil War.

1999’s Thirteenth Lok Sabha Election
With 182 seats, the BJP became the single biggest party during the Kargil conflict, while the Congress only managed 114 seats. Regional parties fared well, holding 158 seats in all. The third time Atal Bihari Vajpayee took the oath of office as prime minister.

2004’s 14th Lok Sabha Election
During the BJP’s tenure, the economy grew steadily and the disinvestment of PSUs proceeded as planned. India’s foreign exchange reserves were valued at over $100 billion. Numerous employment have also been created by the service industry. Although some of its seat-sharing arrangements were established with powerful regional parties outside of the NDA, such the TDP in Andhra Pradesh and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, the BJP contested the elections as a member of the NDA. Under Sonia Gandhi’s leadership, however, the Congress was able to muster a comfortable majority of over 335 members out of 543 (with outside assistance from the BSP, SP, MDMK, and the Left front). The United Progressive Alliance was the name of this post-election coalition. Amid the controversy surrounding her foreign background, Sonia Gandhi declined to take the prime ministership; Manmohan Singh was selected in her place.

2009’s 15th Lok Sabha Election
In addition to eliminating agricultural debts, the Congress-led UPA launched the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information in 2008. Regional parties won 146 seats, the Congress won 206, and the BJP won 116. It was Manmohan Singh’s second oath of office as prime minister.

2014’s 16th Lok Sabha Election
Scams involving 2G, coal blocks, Adarsh, and the Commonwealth Games plagued the UPA-II administration. The Bharatiya Janata Party presented Narendra Modi as the man of the hour in the Prime Minister’s eyes. Rahul Gandhi, the Congress’ nominee for prime minister, was completely outclassed by Modi. With 282 seats, the BJP won by itself, while the Congress, with only 44 seats, had its worst-ever result. 37, 34, and 20 seats were gained by AIADMK, AITC, and BJD. Nine stages of the election took place over a little over a month, and a total of 551.3 million voters, or 66.38% of the electorate, turned out to cast their ballots. Leading candidates Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj won from Nagpur and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. All 25 seats in Rajasthan and 71 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh went to the BJP and its allies.

2019’s 17th Lok Sabha Election
Riding high on the “Modi wave,” the BJP amassed 303 seats and 350 with the NDA, handily defeating the Congress party, which had just 52 seats. After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi is the only other person in Indian history to have won a single party majority twice in a succession. Rahul Gandhi, the president of the Congress, lost to Amethi. The BJP won big in West Bengal, Odisha, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, not only in the Hindi heartland. In the states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Haryana, the party’s vote share rose to more over 50%. In Uttar Pradesh, it hindered the BSP-SP Mahagathbandan.