SUNDAY HINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW DELHIJANUARY 26, 2014 15 | nation |

1952 1ST LOK SABHA

1957 2ND LOK SABHA

1962 3RD LOK SABHA

1967 4TH LOK SABHA

1971 5TH LOK SABHA

1977 6TH LOK SABHA

1980 7TH LOK SABHA

1984 8TH LOK SABHA

1989 9TH LOK SABHA

1991 10TH LOK SABHA

1996 11TH LOK SABHA

1998 12TH LOK SABHA

1999 13TH LOK SABHA

2004 14TH LOK SABHA

2009 15TH LOK SABHA

A RE-CAP OF INDIA’S LOK SABHA ELECTIONSIndia first went to polls in 1952 and the Indian National Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru stormed into power with 44.99% of the vote share.

Since then, India has gone to poll 15 times, coalition governments have become a reality and only nine governments have served their full term Years when

election held

Tenure in years

Vote share for the winning

party/coalition

KEY PLAYERSIndian National Congress (INC), Socialist Party, Communist Party of India (CPI), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Kisan Maj-door Praja Party.

RESULTThe Jawaharlal Nehru-led INC stormed into power with 364 seats and 44.99 % of the votes.

ISSUESJaya Prakash Narayan and Kri-plani were critical of the INC for moving away from original Gan-dhian ideals, which they claimed they still stood for.

KEY PLAYERSIndian national Congress, Bharati-ya Jana Sangh, Communist Party of India, Swatan-tra Party

RESULTINC received a set-back winning 283 seats. A year before elections, senior leader Moraji Desai opposed Indira Gandhi’s claim over the party’s top post.

ISSUESUnder Indira Gan-dhi’s prime minis-tership, the INC faced its first seri-ous challenge with the Opposition calling it a party of thieves.

KEY PLAYERSIndian National Congress(I), Indian National Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Com-munist Party of India, Swatantra Party, DMK

RESULTThe Indira Gandhi-led Congress(I) bounced back with 352 seats.

ISSUESGandhi’s ‘garibi hatao’ (remove poverty) slogan was the flavour of this election. She took pro-poor deci-sions, such as nationalising banks, abolishing privy purses, and guaranteeing min-imum wages.

KEY PLAYERSIndian National Congress(I) and Janata Party alli-ance, comprising Congress(O), Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Socialist Party

RESULTFollowing the Emergency, the Congress(I) won only 189 seats. The Janata Party alliance won 345 seats.

ISSUESThe misuse of power by Indira Gandhi and her kitchen cabinet struck a chord the people.

KEY PLAYERSIndian National Congress (I), Com-munist Party of India, Communist Party of India (M), Janata Party, Jana-ta Party (secular)

RESULTThe Congress (I), under a chastised Indira Gandhi, won by a landslide. The Janata Party alli-ance crumbled when Jana Sangh pulled out in 1979.

ISSUESThis election marked the end of purely ideological planks during the elections and Gandhi campaigned on her ability to stabilise the government.

KEY PLAYERSIndian National Congress (I), CPM, Janata party, Telgu Desam Party

RESULTRiding on sympa-thy wave after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 31, the Congress under Indira Gandhi’s son Rajiv Gandhi swept the polls, winning 414 seats.

ISSUESThe assassination of Indira Gandhi led to a sympathy wave in favour of the Congress.

KEY PLAYERSCongress, Janata Dal, CPI, CPM

RESULTVishwanath Pratap Singh, the former defence minister under Rajiv Gandhi’s government and leader of Janata Dal, led a minority government.

ISSUESAllegations of tak-ing kickbacks in the Bofors gun deal stuck Rajiv Gandhi, who lost his impressive mandate.

KEY PLAYERSCongress, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), CPI, CPM

RESULTThe Janata Dal-government col-lapsed within 16 months of its for-mation, and the Congress bounced back, but it was short of majority. It formed a minor-ity government with support from Left parties and ran its full course of five years.

ISSUESVotes were sought in the backdrop of Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid con-troversy, and res-ervation debate.

KEY PLAYERSCongress, BJP, Shiv Sena, Haryana Vikash Party, Samata Party, CPI, CPI(M), Janata Dal and TDP.

RESULTThe BJP emerged as the single larg-est party but could not muster a two-third majority. It fell in 13 days. HD Deve Gowda-led UF formed the government till April 1997, when the INC withdrew support and forced a change of leader-ship to IK Gujral.

KEY PLAYERSINC, CPI, Praja Socialist Party (PSP)

RESULTThe INC repeated its success and Nehru became prime minister. AB Vajpayee, from Bharatiya Jana Sangh, won his first election from Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh.

ISSUESThis election marked the rise of regional inter-est groups, with the DMK, Samy-ukta Maharashat-ra Samiti and Mahagujarat Parishad making a dent. CPI saw resurgence in Kerala.

NDABJP, TDP, JD(U), Shiv Sena, DMK, Others

UNITED FRONT National Front, Left Front, TMC, DMK, AGP, Others

UNDER DEVE GOWDA AND I K GUJRALUnited Front, INC

INC, Left FrontIndira Gandhi declares Emergency in 1975

Nehru’s death results in Gulzari Lal Nanda taking over as temporary PM

UPA AllianceINC, RJD, DMK, NCP, Lok Jan Shakti Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, PMK, JMM, MDMK, Indian Union Muslim League, Republican Party of India, PDP

UPA AllianceINC, TMC, DMK, NCP, National Conference, JMM, Indian Union Muslim League, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Kerala Congress (Mani),All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, RPI (Athvale)

BJP vote share

INC vote share

44.99%47.78%

44.72%

40.78%43.68%

52.74%

42.69%

49.10%

17.79%

36.26%

25.59%

40.80%

35.40% 37.22%20.29%

28.80%

Seats gained by the

winning party

1996 was an exception

when the INC refused to

form the govt. after the BJP

couldn’t prove majority

Prime Ministers since freedom

TEXT: M RAMAKRISHNAN & BRAJESH KUMARSOURCE: ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIAGRAPHIC: HT DESIGN

INC won

364/489

INC won

371 /494

INC won

361/494

INC won

232/521

INC+ won

218/543

INC+ won

262/543

BJP won161/543INC won

140/543

BJP won

181/543

BJP+ won

299/543

INC won

283/520

Congress (I) won

352/518

Congress (I) won

353/529

Congress (I) won

404/514

Janata Dal won

143/529

Janata Party won

345/542

INC CONG JP JD BJP

KEY PLAYERSINC, Swatantra Party

RESULTThis was last election for the INC under the leadership of Nehru, who died in 1964. The Con-gress won 10 fewer from the earlier elections.

ISSUESSwatantra party formed by C Rajagopalachari, (Rajaji) the first Governor General of India, debuted with 18 seats. It opposed license raj, advocated free trade and attacked the per-sonality cult around the prime minister.

KEY PLAYERSCongress, BJP, AIADMK, Samta Party, Biju Janata Dal, Haryana Vikash Party, CPI, CPM

RESULTIK Gujral govern-ment did not last long. The Congress pulled the plug again in 1998 lead-ing to fresh elec-tions. The BJP once again emerged as the single largest party with 181 seats.

ISSUESThe robust growth in economy and instability caused by coalition gov-ernment were some of the issues raised by the BJP.

KEY PLAYERSCongress, BJP, AIADMK, Samta Party, Biju Janata Dal, Haryana Vikash Party, CPI, CPM

RESULTThe BJP led-NDA alliance came to power winning 270 seats. It received the outside sup-port from the Telgu Desam Party, which had won 29 seats.

ISSUESWith the Kargil victory behind it, the BJP brought together more than 20 parties to form National Democratic Alli-ance and challenge the Congress.

KEY PLAYERSCongress, BJP, CPI, CPM, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahu-jan Samajwadi Party (BSP)

RESULTThe Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won and formed the government in alliance with the Left (59 seats), Samajwadi Party (36 seats) and Bahujan Samajwa-di party (19seats).

ISSUESThe BJP went to the polls with ‘India shining’ campaign. The impressive eco-nomic growth didn’t click with the masses.

KEY PLAYERSCongress, BJP, CPI, CPM, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahu-jan Samajwadi Party (BSP)

RESULTThe incumbent UPA repeated its 2004 performance in the 14th Lok Sabha elections and came back to power in the 15th Lok Sabha. increas-ing its tally to 262.

ISSUESThe incumbent party spoke of the social schemes—NREGA, NRHM etc— in its cam-paign pitch. The NDA, on the other hand, raised issues such as inflation and internal secu-rity threats.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Morarji Desai P V Narasimha RaoChandra Shekhar I K Gujral Manmohan SinghAtal Bihari Vajpayee

H D Deve Gowda

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

V P Singh

Rajiv GandhiIndira GandhiIndira GandhiLal Bahadur Shastri

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