In Photos: A Chronological Breakdown of Indian Elections Since Independence

There has been a distinct dissipation in the volume of apathy as far as India’s 2014 elections are concerned. This may have more to do with the fact that politics are being played out with more drama than an Ekta Kapoor serial but the entertainment quotient notwithstanding, we believe it’s a major step forward for political progress. The anticipation in the air is thick enough to slice with a knife and the marked difference in emotions got us wondering about what the atmosphere was like in the country during previous elections.
We have, by no means ever had a smooth political history and perhaps if we spend some time dissecting the mistakes we’ve made in the past, we won’t be nearly as inclined to repeat them yet again.
Homegrown presents a chronological breakdown of Indian elections since independence which includes rare, old photos accompanied with snippets of information about key moments, victories and downfalls over the last 67 years.

The first general elections were held in 1951-51, which saw the victory of congress (the first of many to come) and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Nehru subsequently won comfortably in 1957 and 1962, and remained Prime minister till his death in 1964.

The 1967 elections saw the rise of Indira Gandhi, Nehru’s daughter, to the post of Prime Minister. Symbolism mattered a lot in a country like India in the older days because of high illiteracy rates.

Indira Gandhi was re-elected in 1971 as congress won yet again. She can be seen campaigning here before the ‘71 elections. The congress slogan was “Gareebi Hatao” that year.

1971 also saw the rise of Shiv Sena, and this was the first election they contested.

Fearing a loss in the 1975 elections due to the Allahabad court ruling, India was put in a state of national emergency in 1975, which not only suspended elections, but also curbed the rights of the people.

An iconic image of George Fernandes, an opposition leader who was taken into “preventive custody” during the emergency.

The emergency was lifted and Indira Gandhi was ousted, and fresh elections were held in 1977.

And in 1977, with the help of a coalition government, Morarji Desai became the first non-congress Prime Minister of India.

However, the coalition collapsed soon enough, and fresh elections were held in 1980, which saw the re-emergence of Congress and Indira Gandhi became the prime minister again. (Remember what we said about not repeating the same mistakes?!)

The assassination of Indira Gandhi, however, saw her son, Rajiv Gandhi, step up and claim the position of Prime Minister after the congress won the 84-85 elections convincingly.

Elections were held again in 1989, which yet again saw the downfall of the Congress. This is a picture from Vijaywada, where women were seen voting. Voting has been a right for women in India since 1930.

Congress was ousted, a new coalition government was formed, and VP Singh became the prime minister.

A decade and a failed trust vote later, Atal Bihari Vajpayee finally assumed office in 1999 and a non-congress government finally lasted a whole term.

In 2004, it was widely predicted that he would sweep the elections.

The prediction, however, proved to be horribly wrong.

And in a stunning turn of events, Sonia Gandhi, who was widely tipped to be PM, gave up her position to Manmohan Singh, who assumed office in 2004.

Five years later, Congress won again, and Manmohan Singh was re-instated as PM.

Which brings us to our current state of affairs--a truly watershed election begins next week. As the largest democratic act in the history of the world, 815 million voters across the country will set out to decide the future of India and our options are few & fear-inducing. Will it be the Duffer, The Bluffer or The Muffler? Only time will tell.