<h5 id="challenge-of-building-democracy">Challenge of building democracy</h5> <ul> <li>The text is about the challenge of building democracy in India after gaining independence.</li> <li>Many countries that gained freedom from colonialism experienced non-democratic rule, but India chose to take the more difficult path of democracy.</li> <li>The first general election in India was a massive exercise, with 17 crore eligible voters, 3,200 MLAs, and 489 Members of Lok Sabha.</li> <li>Only 15% of the eligible voters were literate, so the Election Commission had to devise a special method of voting.</li> <li>The 1952 election, held from October 1951 to February 1952, was the first general election in India. It was competitive, encouraging, and the results were accepted as fair.</li> <li>The election became a landmark in the history of democracy, proving that democratic elections could be held in conditions of poverty or lack of education.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="congress-dominance-in-the-first-three-general-elections">Congress dominance in the first three general elections</h5> <ul> <li>The Indian National Congress won the first three general elections in India by a large margin, with 74% of the seats in the first election (1952), and around 73% and 72% of the seats in the second (1957) and third (1962) elections, respectively.</li> <li>The Congress’s victory was partly due to the first-past-the-post electoral system, which allowed them to win a majority of seats with less than half of the total votes. For example, in 1952, the Congress received 45% of the votes but won 74% of the seats.</li> <li>The Communist Party of India (CPI) was the main opposition, with 16 seats in the first election. In 1957, the CPI won the majority of seats in the Kerala legislature and formed the government, the first Communist party government to come to power through democratic elections.</li> <li>The Socialist Party, formed in 1948, had a presence in most states but achieved electoral success only in a few pockets. They advocated for democratic socialism, criticizing the Congress for favoring capitalists and landlords.</li> <li>The Socialist Party experienced many splits and reunions, leading to the formation of parties like the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, Praja Socialist Party, and Samyukta Socialist Party. Many contemporary Indian parties, such as the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), and Janata Dal (Secular), trace their origins to the Socialist Party.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="nature-of-congress-dominance">Nature of Congress dominance</h5> <ul> <li>The dominance of the Congress party in India was unique as it occurred under democratic conditions, with free and fair elections, unlike other countries where one-party dominance was ensured by compromising democracy.</li> <li>The roots of this success can be traced back to the legacy of the freedom struggle, with Congress seen as the inheritor of the national movement. The party was already well-organized and had a strategic advantage by being the first to establish itself across the country and down to the local level.</li> <li>By the time of Independence, the Congress had transformed into a rainbow-like social coalition, representing India’s diversity in terms of classes, castes, religions, languages, and various interests. This ideological coalition allowed numerous groups, interests, and even political parties to take part in the national movement.</li> <li>The coalition-like character of the Congress gave it strength through inclusiveness, compromise, and tolerance of internal differences, accommodating various groups and leaders’ ambitions. This strategy put the opposition in a difficulty, as anything they wanted to say would also find a place in the programme and ideology of the Congress.</li> <li>Factions within the Congress, based on ideological considerations or personal ambitions and rivalries, were tolerated and encouraged. Instead of weakening the party, internal factionalism became a strength, allowing leaders representing different interests and ideologies to remain within the Congress rather than forming new parties.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="emergence-of-opposition-parties">Emergence Of Opposition Parties</h5> <ul> <li>India had several opposition parties even before the first general election in 1952, many of which played important roles in the country’s politics in the following decades.</li> <li>These opposition parties gained only token representation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies during this period, but their presence was crucial in maintaining the democratic character of the system.</li> <li>They offered a sustained and often principled criticism of the Congress party, keeping the ruling party under check and changing the balance of power within the Congress.</li> <li>The inclusive character of the national movement led by the Congress enabled it to attract different sections, groups, and interests, making it a broad-based social and ideological coalition.</li> <li>As the ability of the Congress to accommodate all interests and aspirants for political power declined, other political parties started gaining greater significance, marking the end of Congress dominance.</li> </ul> <p>======</p>