India - 1st Lok Sabha 1952

1st Lok Sabha 1952

The country got its debut Lok Sabha in April 1952, after the first General Elections were successfully concluded. The Indian National Congress (INC) stormed into power in the first Lok Sabha elections with 245 seats in its kitty. With this, India's grand old party managed to secure 45 per cent of the total votes polled. An electoral participation of 44.87 per cent was reported from across India. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first elected Prime Minister of the country, his party clearly beating rivals by winning 75.99% (47,665,951) of the votes cast. The Lok Sabha, which was constituted on April 17, 1952, lasted its full term till April 4, 1957.

Before Independent India went to the polls, two former cabinet colleagues of Nehru established separate political parties to challenge the INC's supremacy. While Shyama Prasad Mookerjee went on to found the Jana Sangh in October 1951, Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar revived the Scheduled Castes Federation (which was later named the Republican Party). Other parties which started coming to the forefront included the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Parishad, whose prime mover was Acharya Kripalani; the Socialist Party which had Ram Manohar Lohia and Jay Prakash Narayan's leadership to boast of and the Communist Party of India. However, these smaller parties knew that they really didn't stand a chance to against the Congress. 

The first general elections, which were conducted for 489 constituencies, represented 26 Indian states. At that time, there were a few two-seat and even a three-seat constituency. The multi-seat constituencies were discontinued in the 1960s. 

The Speaker of the first Lok Sabha was Shri G.V. Mavalankar. The first Lok Sabha also witnessed 677 sittings (3,784 hours), the highest recorded count of the number of sittings. Lok Sabha lasted its full term from April 17, 1952 to April 4, 1957.

Dates: 17/04/1952-04/04/1957

Speaker Shri G.V. Mavalankar 15/5/1952 -27/2/1956 Shri Ananthasayanam Ayyangar 8/3/1956 -10/5/1957 Deputy Speaker Shri M.A.Ayyangar 30/5/1952 -7/3/1956 Sardar Hukam Singh 20/3/1956 -4/4/1957 Secretary-General Shri M. N.Kaul 17/04/1952-04/04/1957