Which one of the following examples suggest that the victory of the Congress in 1952 elections has been artificially boosted by India’s electoral system?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The Congress obtained a little less than three fourth or seventy-four percent of the seats with forty-five percent of the total votes.
Option (1) The Congress party won two out of every four seats with forty-five percent of the total votes. — Incorrect. The Congress won three out of every four seats, not two out of four.
Option (2) The Congress with fifty-one percent of total votes could win one out of every two seats. — Incorrect. The Congress did not get even half of the votes; it had 45 per cent, not 51 per cent.
Option (3) The Congress obtained a little less than three fourth or seventy-four percent of the seats with forty-five percent of the total votes. — Correct. In 1952 the Congress obtained 45 per cent of the total votes but won 74 per cent of the seats. This gap between votes and seats is why its victory is said to have been artificially boosted by our electoral system.
Option (4) With less than fifty percent of votes it won roughly one out of every three seats. — Incorrect. With less than half the votes it won three out of every four seats, not one out of three.
NCERT (2025-26): “Congress dominance in the first three general elections … In the second and the third general elections, held in 1957 and 1962 respectively, the Congress maintained the same position in the Lok Sabha by winning three-fourth of the seats. None of the opposition parties could win even one-tenth of the number of seats won by the Congress. In the state assembly elections, the Congress did not get majority in a few cases. The most significant of these cases was in Kerala in 1957 when a coalition led by the CPI formed the government. Apart from exceptions like this, the Congress controlled the national and all the state governments. The extent of the victory of the Congress was artificially boosted by our electoral system. The Congress won three out of every four seats but it did not get even half of the votes. In 1952, for example, the Congress obtained 45 per cent of the total votes. But it managed to win 74 per cent of the seats.…” |