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Era of One-Party Dominance (First three general elections (Electoral…
Era of One-Party Dominance
Challenge of building democracy
Difficulties in first general election
drawing the boundaries of the electoral constituencies
preparing the electoral rolls
names of nearly 40 lakh women were not recorded
special method of voting
15 per cent of eligible voters were literate
first big test of democracy in a poor and illiterate country
Election of '52
six months for the campaigning, polling and counting to be completed
competitive
high levels of participation
accepted as fair
landmark in history of democracy
October 1951 to February 1952
postponed twice
First three general elections
First election
Extent of Congress victory
364 of the 489 seats in the first Lok Sabha
majority of seats in all the states except Travancore-Cochin , Madras and Orissa
Reasons for Congress victory
Jawaharlal Nehru
only party with nation wide organisation
inherited the national movement
Second and third election
3/4th seats in Lok Sabha
Kerela '57
coalition led by CPI
Electoral system
Congress won 3/4 seats but it did not get even 1/2 votes
party that gets more votes than others tends to get much more than its proportional share
votes of all the non-Congress candidates was more
Nature of Congress dominance
Coalition
social
transformation into a mass political party
diverse groups with contradictory interests
expanded leadership
broadly represented India's diversity by Independence
ideological
independent groups existed within congress
‘platform’ for numerous groups, interests and even political parties
contain if not resolve differences and build a consensus
Tolerance and management of factions
strengths
avoid any extreme position
greater tolerance of internal differences
factions
ideological considerations
personal ambitions and rivalries
encouraged various factions
leaders representing different interests and ideologies remained rather than form a new party
grand centrist party
different ideological positions
other parties in margins
removed from the actual exercise of authority
balancing mechanism
congress system
Congress acted both as the ruling party as well as the opposition
One party dominance
Congress
legacy of national struggle
first off the blocks advantage
under democratic conditions
all inclusive
Other countries
ensured by compromising
democracy
China, Cuba and Syria the constitution permits only a single party to rule the country
Myanmar, Belarus, Egypt, and Eritrea due to legal and military measures
Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan were also effectively one-party dominant states
Emergence of opposition parties
existence of opposition parties
larger number of diverse and vibrant opposition parties
come into being even before the first general election
important part in the politics of the country in the 60s and 70s
role of opposition
token representation
maintained the democratic character
sustained and principled criticism of the Congress
kept the ruling party under check and often changed the balance of power within the Congress
kept democratic alternative alive
prevented the resentment with the system from turning anti-democratic
groomed crucial leaders
mutual respect
interim govt included opposition leaders
Nehru had fondness for socialist party