NEW DELHI: The first general election held in independent India in 1951-52 witnessed participation of 14 national parties and 39 others, including state-level outfits.
A couple of the newly formed parties — mainly Congress offshoots — had a promising start. However, some vanished from the political landscape in the later years but some re-emerged stronger after mergers.
According to the ‘Leap of Faith’; Journey of Indian Elections, a publication of Election Commission of India (ECI), in February 1953, only four parties — Indian National Congress (INC), Praja Socialist Party (PSP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and All India Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS) were permitted to retain the national party status.
The Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru made a sweeping victory in the first electoral festival of democracy as the party claimed 364 Lok Sabha seats. One of the other outfits, which were granted nation party status — Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Rambriksh Benipuri — could bag only 12 seats in the first general election despite Narayan’s personal popularity.
The Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) was founded just before the 1952 elections by Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani, popularly known as Acharya Kripalani. It registered victory in nine constituencies and Peoples Democratic Front (PDF), a front of the Communist Party of India in the Hyderabad state won seven seats.
Among non-Congress parties, CPI surfaced as the second largest party as it had 16 seats. The All India Ganatantra Parishad (AIGP), a regional political party based in Odisha, formed by the former rulers of the erstwhile princely states and big landlords, fetched six seats.
The Hindu Mahasabha won four seats while the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the previous political wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had only three seats. On the other hand, about 30 parties failed to even open their accounts.
After the 1952 elections, the Socialist Party and KMPP merged, so the Praja Socialist Party (PSP) came into existence. It emerged victorious on 19 seats in subsequent Lok Sabha elections that were conducted in 1957. The party survived till 1972. The AIGP improved its tally by one seat and the Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF) of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar won elections in six constituencies. The Federation was later turned into the Republican Party of India (RPI). The AIGP dissolved 10 years later in 1962.
Narayan later played a key role in the formation of the Janata Party after the Emergency in 1977 and installation of its government at the Centre. Under his leadership, BJS, Bharatiya Lok Dal and a faction of the Congress came together to form Janata Party. The BJS, however, parted ways in 1980 to form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
As per the notification of ECI issued in March, the number of national parties has reduced to just six including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), BJP, Congress, the Communist Party of India-Marxist and National People’s Party. Besides 2,764 registered unrecognised political parties, there are 60 state parties.
The EC broadly classifies parties into three groups — national, state, and registered unrecognised parties. A prerequisite vote percentage and seat are required for recognition under national and state parties.