1957 Indian general election


The Indian general election of 1957, held from 24 February to 9 June, was the second election to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. They were held five years after the first general election, according to the provisions of the Constitution of India. Elections to many state legislatures were held simultaneously.
There were 494 seats elected using first past the post voting system. Out of the 403 constituencies, 91 elected two members, while the remaining 312 elected a single member. The multi-seat constituencies were abolished before the next election.
Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian National Congress easily won a second term in power, taking 371 of the 494 seats. They gained an extra seven seats and their vote share increased from 45.0% to 47.8%. The INC won nearly five times more votes than the Communist Party, the second largest party. In addition, 19.3% of the vote and 42 seats went to independent candidates, the highest of any Indian general election.

Results

Results by Party

Voting

The first instance of booth capturing in India was recorded in 1957 in the General Elections of that year in Rachiyahi, in Begusarai's Matihani assembly seat.