The History of Indian Elections

Priyanka Swami, TIR: India is a country of varied colors. From festivals to elections, it’s high on action and drama. After holding parliamentary elections for as much as 15 times, the world’s largest democracy is heading to another splendid affair in the approaching April. With 814 million eyes laid on the political chassis, this time it is the largest and greatest India could witness till date. Elections form the core of any democracy; they are the only tool for us to keep a check on the candidates, choose our leader and be a part of the lawmaking process.

When in 1947, India was free after a lot of tussle and pain, there was much more to face ahead. As per the Constitution, India went to the general elections for the first time and had its first Lok Sabha in the year 1952, on the way to become the world’s biggest democracy. From then till 1971 elections, the Congress ki lehar prevailed and was at the helm of Indian polity. However, faction-ism and infighting had started surfacing. After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress party got divided into two segments— one led by Indira Gandhi and other by Morarji Desai. Let’s get into the background of events and find out how the time changed from a clear majority pro-people government to coalition governments. 

5th general Election

The year 1971 came with a new dawn in Indian politics. New mantras, new approach. It was for the first time that a leader sought public support for a win in the elections. Hitherto, politics was a story of ancestry.

In the pre-television era, Indira adopted ‘Gareebi Hatao’ as the moot point of her campaign and traveled extensively to every nook and corner of the country, addressing umpteen rallies. Hearing out their dilemmas, she struck an emotional chord with the young and the old. In an effort to rise above the party, Indira established a direct contact with the masses and sought public unanimity in her name. Reaping fruits, her campaign landed her in the parliament stronger than ever. She registered a Herculean victory in1971 with 362 seats, a performance way better than the past.

Emergency Sabotaging Democracy

An undeterred Indira went on to pen her success tales with some tough decisions and value additions to Indian social and economic chronicles. But soon, she struck a bloody blow. Indira imposed Emergency on the Indian state in 1975 after the Allahabad High Court invalidated the 1971 election on the grounds of electoral malpractices.

Undemocratic elections of 1977

Congress tried to repeat the electoral success of Congress by professing the need for a rigid government.  But after two years of emergency and in the elections in 1977, Indira Gandhi was defeated by the Janta Morcha ‘coalition’. The reason was clear— suspended and suppressed democracy. And the common man bid an equally unkind adieu to the dictator in Indira Gandhi.

It was for the first time that a number of parties came under one roof and emerged victorious. It was clearly not their charisma but unpopularity of Ms Gandhi that led to the Congress’ fall. But the word ‘coalition’ was added to the political lexicon and this time it was a successful one (at least for sometime).

Morarji Desai Government in 1980

The Janta Party was in power but its position was weak and soon split in 1979 when A B Vajpayee and L K Advani quit and Bharatiya Jana Sangh withdrew its support. The chemistry of coalition was failing to the physics of politics. The mid-way elections thrashed Janta Party out of power and Congress regained it.

1984 General Elections and Assassination of Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her body guards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in 1984 in an aftermath of Operation Star. The Lok Sabha was dissolved and elections were called in 1984. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi portrayed himself as a reformer and sought public sympathy on account of his family contributions. He was elected as the PM of the country under the 8th Lok Sabha.

Watershed Elections of 1989

In many ways the 9th Lok Sabha Elections were a watershed in Indian electoral politics. Now, the battlefield wasn’t Congress’ copyright, times were changing. Politicians started alluring voters with different agendas. National interest was soon shifting to regional, religious and communal interests. Identity politics came into perspective. The 1989 General Elections were fought with the young and politically inept Rajiv cornered with innumerable internal and external crises.

Issues like Bofors scandal, rising terrorism in Punjab, the civil war between LTTE and Sri Lankan government were a needle in the eye for the Congress and maligned Rajiv’s identity as a national leader. On the other hand, mergers were in the making— Janata Dal (Jan Morcha, Janata Party, Lok Dal and Congress (S)) and parties like DMK, TDP, and AGP followed Janata Dal’s footsteps and formed the National Front. The five-party National Front jumped into the electoral fray in 1989 after joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI). These coalitions time and again proved the fact that the political horizon was widening with different players playing differently. Congress was no longer the only mainstream party.

Era of VP Singh and Mandal Commission (1991)

The 10th Lok Sabha Elections were a mid-term one as the previous Lok Sabha had been dissolved just 16 months after government formation. The elections were held in a polarised environment and are also referred to as the ‘Mandal-Mandir’ elections after the two most important poll issues, the Mandal Commission fallout and the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue.

While the Mandal Commission report implemented by the VP Singh government gave 27 per cent reservation to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in government jobs and led to widespread violence and protests across the country by the forward castes, Mandir represented the row over the disputed Babri Masjid structure at Ayodhya which the Bharatiya Janata Party was using as its major poll plank. And it was later used by Congress as a comeback trail.

A day after the first round of polling took place on May 20, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam while campaigning at Sriperembudur. The remaining election days were postponed until mid-June and voting finally took place on June 12 and June 15. Voting was the lowest ever in parliamentary elections with just 53 per cent of the electorate exercising their franchise.

The results threw a Hung Parliament with the Congress emerging as the largest party with 232 seats, while the BJP was second with 120 seats. Janata Dal came a distant third with just 59 seats.

On June 21, PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress was sworn in as the Prime Minister. Rao was the only second Congress PM from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family. The first non-Nehru-Gandhi family PM from Congress was Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Instability between 1996 and 1998

11th Lok Sabha elections ended with hung Parliament. During this period, India witnessed three Prime Ministers – P V Narsimha Rao and two terms of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and I K Gujral. It was the time of reforms that opened up the country’s economy to foreign investors. Rao’s supporters credited him with saving the economy of country. He was also known for boosting the foreign policy. However, the government fared unsure. ‘Tandoor murder’ case, Harshad Mehta scandal, Hawala scandaland report criminalisation of Indian politics had added fuel to its instability

Then PM Rao tried to woo voters with the economic reforms but voters seemed unimpressed. BJP leader A B Vajpayee was given a chance to form government, who took an oath on May 16. His efforts of gathering support also failed and party deflated within 13 days. After which, Janata Dal’s Deve Gowda formed a United Front coalition government on June 1. He again could win the trust of alliances and government lasted for 18 months. As a stopgap arrangement, I K Gujral emerged as a last option after Congress supported new United Front government from the outside.

Vajpayee Era (1999)

After repeated attempts, NDA formed government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Instead of issues, 1999 elections looked like a war between personalities — Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi.

Though Ms Gandhi’s entry into Indian politics was challenged by Sharad Pawar because of her Italian birth, but it didn’t influence voters. Where BJP took on Congress with Italian birth issues, Congress used Vajpayee handling of Kargil War. Continuing that, voters of India also seemed confused and no clear cut victory of any party came out.

With Jayalalitha withdrawing support from NDA, none of the national parties were able to form the government. This inability of Congress gave BJP-led NDA government another chance to rule the country as the interim government.

Another era of Congress (2004-2014)

In 2004, the personality war intensified. The BJP-led NDA government, headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee completed 5 years and many believed that it will gather the enough number of votes for clear-cut victory but some of its seat-sharing agreements were also made.

Contrary to this belief, Congress-led UPA formed government on May 13 with over 335 members out of 543 (including external support). BJP’s India Shining fell flat in front of Congress’ ‘Aam aadmi ko kya mila’. Sonia Gandhi surprised India by declining the seat and Dr. Manmohan Singh came into picture.

2014 Elections

Well, we don’t know what’s going to be India’s verdict this time. The elections till date have witnessed crucial manifestoes, campaigns and outcomes. Every time something happened which was detrimental to the democracy, people have shown that the ultimate power lies in their hands. They can always mutate it if dictatorship, inefficiency or corruption tried to rule them. Also, the approach that the political parties adopted earlier has changed with time. From socialist issues to the pro-growth stance, the party leaders have always had to endorse the public view of it. We don’t want sloganeering. We have seen how parties have divided us on basis of caste, religion, community, reservation and what not! Garibi is not the only thing that needs to be eradicated. This time we know better.