71 years ago today, first general elections held in independent India

New Delhi, October 25: India is the land of law. Democracy prevails here, and leaders are elected through democratic ways. On this day in 1951, general elections were held in India for the first time in 68 phases. It was held between October 25 1951 to February 1952. Continue reading to find out all about India's first general elections.

1951's General Elections

The first phase of the election was held in the constituencies of Himachal Pradesh - Chini and Pangi while the last phase (68th) was held in Uttar Pradesh. A total of 53 political parties contested for the election, of which 14 were national parties. Further, a total of 489 seats were contested for about 1,874 candidates. These included 533 independents candidates.

The 14 national political parties during the first General Election (1951-52) were Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, All India Scheduled Castes Federation, Bolshevik Party of India, All India Forward Bloc (Marxist Group), Socialist Party, All India Bharatiya Jan Sangh, Revolutionary Communist Party of India, Akhil Bharatiya Ram Rajya Parishad, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Krishikar Lok Party, Indian National Congress (INC), Communist Party of India, All India Forward Bloc and Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party.

There were 401 Constituencies. Further, out of a total population of 36 crores, about 17.32 crore were eligible to vote during the time. While, the voter turn out was 45.7%. Furthermore, the first ballot papers were printed in the Government of India Security Press at Nashik. Did you know, there were 196,084 polling stations of which 27,527 were exclusively reserved for women.

Sukumar Sen, an Indian Civil Servnt became India's first Chief Election Commissioner of India. India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru was elected from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh and INC won 364 seats with a 45% vote share. Ravi Narayana Reddy from the People's Democratic Front, Telangana became the first person to enter the Parliament in independent India.