The road to India’s Constitution was a long one, paved with debates, discussions and arguments. The Constituent Assembly was formed in December 1946, and J.B. Kripalani was the first person to address it.
Once India became independent, work began in earnest. A drafting committee, with Dr B.R. Ambedkar as chairman, was set up on August 29, 1947 and two years later, in November 1949, the Constitution was introduced and passed in the assembly. It came into force on January 26, 1950, which is now celebrated as Republic Day. India chose to adopt universal adult franchise which meant that every Indian above the age of 21, irrespective of gender, religion or caste, would be allowed to vote. (The voting age was lowered to 18 in 1988.)
A Films Division documentary, The Great Experiment, spoke of how “for a nation that had recently emerged from foreign rule, it was bold step forward” and showed the work that was done — preparing electoral rolls, educating the populace about voting, briefing electoral officers and manufacturing ballot boxes — to set up this mammoth exercise.The documentary also showed leaders of all political parties speaking at rallies to connect with the public.
Independent India’s first elections were held from October 25, 1951 to February 21, 1952. The Congress was of course the best known party in India, but 53 parties participated. A total of 1,949 candidates, 533 of them being independent, competed for 489 seats in the Lok Sabha. Of the 173 million eligible voters, 106 million votes were cast, according to the documentary.
The Congress, which was the party of the nationalist movement and which had stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel and also a national presence, expectedly dominated the elections. But it lost two of its stalwarts – Syama Prasad Mukherjee left and set up the Bhartiya Jan Sangh, while B.R. Ambedkar revived the Schedule Caste Federation.
Neither of them made an impact on the results. The Congress won 364 of the 499 seats, followed by the Communist Party (16) and the Socialist Party (12). The Jan Sangh got a mere three while the Federation could manage just two – Dr Ambedkar lost.
The elections were well covered by the press, which reported on each and every aspect. The voters too responded with enthusiasm.
In the end, the elections were concluded and Indians had declared their preference. That helped pave the way for all the elections that have been held since.
To commemorate that monumental exercise, The Wire will publish a series of articles exploring various aspects of the first ever general election in independent India.