1957 Indian general election

1957 Indian general election

← 1951 24 February – 14 March 1957 1962 →
← outgoing members elected members →
494 of the 505 seats in the Lok Sabha 248 seats needed for a majority
Registered	193,652,179
Turnout	45.44% ( 0.57pp)
First party Second party   CPI Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Ajoy Ghosh Party INC CPI Last election 44.99%, 364 seats 3.29%, 16 seats Seats won 371 27 Seat change 7 11 Popular vote 57,579,589 10,754,075 Percentage 47.78% 8.92% Swing 2.79pp 5.63pp   Third party Fourth party   ABJS Leader Jayaprakash Narayan Debaprasad Ghosh Party PSP ABJS Last election New 3.06%, 3 seats Seats won 19 4 Seat change New 1 Popular vote 12,542,666 7,193,267 Percentage 10.41% 5.97% Swing New 2.91pp
Results by constituency
Prime Minister before election Jawaharlal Nehru INC Prime Minister after election Jawaharlal Nehru INC

General elections were held in India between 24 February and 14 March 1957, the second elections to the Lok Sabha after independence. Elections to many state legislatures were held simultaneously.

Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian National Congress easily won a second term in power, taking 371 of the 494 seats. They gained an extra seven seats (the size of the Lok Sabha had been increased by five) and their vote share increased from 45% to 48%. The INC received nearly five times more votes than the Communist Party, the second largest party. In addition, 19% of the vote and 42 seats went to independent candidates, the highest of any Indian general election.