Which of the following is associated with the term 'biggest gamble in history' in the context of the general elections of India?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is option 4: None of the above.
India’s experiment with universal adult franchise after gaining independence was called as “the biggest gamble in history”.
The first general election of India was the first big test of democracy in a poor and illiterate country. Till then democracy had existed only in the prosperous countries, mainly in Europe and North America, where nearly everyone was literate. By that time many countries in Europe had not given voting rights to all women. In this context India’s experiment with universal adult franchise appeared very bold and risky. An Indian editor called it “the biggest gamble in history”. Organiser, a magazine, wrote that Jawaharlal Nehru “would live to confess the failure of universal adult franchise in India”. A British member of the Indian Civil Service claimed that “a future and more enlightened age will view with astonishment the absurd farce of recording the votes of millions of illiterate people”.