1957 Indian general election

1957 Indian general election

← 1951 24 February – 14 March 1957 1962 →

494 of the 505 seats in the Lok Sabha[a]
248 seats needed for a majority
Registered193,652,179
Turnout45.44% (Increase 0.57pp)
  First party Second party
 
CPI
Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Ajoy Ghosh
Party INC CPI
Last election 44.99%, 364 seats 3.29%, 16 seats
Seats won 371 27
Seat change Increase 7 Increase 11
Popular vote 57,579,589 10,754,075
Percentage 47.78% 8.92%
Swing Increase 2.79pp Increase 5.63pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
ABJ
Leader Jayaprakash Narayan Debaprasad Ghosh
Party PSP ABJS
Last election New 3.06%, 3 seats
Seats won 19 4
Seat change New Increase 1
Popular vote 12,542,666 7,193,267
Percentage 10.41% 5.97%
Swing New Increase 2.91pp

Results by constituency

Prime Minister before election

Jawaharlal Nehru
INC

Prime Minister after election

Jawaharlal Nehru
INC

General elections were held in India between 24 February and 14 March 1957, the second elections to the Lok Sabha after independence. Elections to many state legislatures were held simultaneously.

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 (the size of the Lok Sabha had been increased by five) and their vote share increased from 45% to 48%. The INC received nearly five times more votes than the Communist Party, the second largest party. In addition, 19% of the vote and 42 seats went to independent candidates, the highest of any Indian general election.
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