| Country: | India |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1951–52 Indian general election |
| Previous Year: | 1951 |
| Next Election: | 1962 Indian general election |
| Next Year: | 1962 |
| Election Date: | 24 February – 14 March 1957 |
| Seats For Election: | 494 of the 505 seats in the Lok Sabha |
| Majority Seats: | 248 |
| Image1: | Jnehru.jpg |
| Leader1: | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Party1: | Indian National Congress |
| Seats1: | 371 |
| Seat Change1: | 7 |
| Popular Vote1: | 57,579,589 |
| Percentage1: | 47.78% |
| Swing1: | 2.79pp |
| Leader2: | Ajoy Ghosh |
| Party2: | Communist Party of India |
| Seats2: | 27 |
| Seat Change2: | 11 |
| Popular Vote2: | 10,754,075 |
| Percentage2: | 8.92% |
| Swing2: | 5.63pp |
| Image4: | Jayaprakash Narayan (cropped2).jpg |
| Leader4: | Jayaprakash Narayan |
| Party4: | Praja Socialist Party |
| Seats4: | 19 |
| Popular Vote4: | 12,542,666 |
| Percentage4: | 10.41% |
| Leader5: | Debaprasad Ghosh |
| Party5: | Bharatiya Jana Sangh |
| Seats5: | 4 |
| Popular Vote5: | 7,193,267 |
| Percentage5: | 5.97% |
| Last Election5: | 3.06%, 3 seats |
| Swing5: | 2.91pp |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Prime Minister after election |
| Before Election: | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Before Party: | Indian National Congress |
| After Election: | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| After Party: | Indian National Congress |
| Registered: | 193,652,179 |
| Turnout: | 45.44% (0.57pp) |
| Last Election2: | 3.29%, 16 seats |
| Last Election4: | New |
| Swing4: | New |
| Seat Change4: | New |
| Outgoing Members: | List of members of the 1st Lok Sabha |
| Elected Members: | List of members of the 2nd Lok Sabha |
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.
There were 494 seats elected using first past the post voting. Out of the 403 constituencies, 91 elected two members, while the remaining 312 elected a single member.[1] [2] The multi-seat constituencies were abolished before the next election.
The elections were overseen by Sukumar Sen, the Chief Election Commissioner, who used the existing election infrastructure to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Historian Ramachandra Guha wrote "this general election cost the exchequer Rs45 million less than the previous one. The prudent Sen had safely stored the 3.5 million ballot boxes the first time round and only half a million additional ones were required."[3]
| State | Total seats | Seats won | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INC | CPI | PSP | GP | SCF | JKP | BJS | Others | Ind. | App. | |||
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 43 | 37 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Assam | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| Bihar | 53 | 41 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Bombay | 66 | 38 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 8 | ||||
| Delhi | 5 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Kerala | 18 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir | 6 | 6 | ||||||||||
| Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 36 | 35 | 1 | |||||||||
| Madras | 41 | 31 | 2 | 8 | ||||||||
| Manipur | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Mysore | 26 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| North-East Frontier Agency | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Orissa | 20 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 3 | ||||||
| Punjab | 22 | 21 | 1 | |||||||||
| Rajasthan | 22 | 19 | 3 | |||||||||
| Tripura | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 86 | 70 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 9 | ||||||
| West Bengal | 36 | 23 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||||||
| Anglo-Indians | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Total | 505 | 371 | 27 | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 42 | 11 | |
| Source: ECI | ||||||||||||
Based on the published data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.[4]
| State/UT | Total seats | Women contestants | Elected | Women contestants (%) | Elected (%) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | Seats | ||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 43 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3.5% | 6.9% | |
| Assam | 12 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6.5% | 14.3% | |
| Bihar | 53 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3.7% | 9.4% | |
| Bombay | 66 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3.11% | 4.5% | |
| Kerala | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.7% | 0 | |
| Madhya Pradesh | 36 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 6.6% | 8.3% | |
| Madras | 41 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3.2% | 2.4% | |
| Mysore | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Manipur | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Orissa | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Punjab | 22 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.3% | 4.5% | |
| Rajasthan | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tripura | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Uttar Pradesh | 86 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2.05% | 13.75% | |
| West Bengal | 36 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11.59% | 1.1% | |
| Delhi | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14.8% | 20% | |
| Himachal Pradesh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| India | 494 | 45 | 37 | 22 | 2.96% | 4.45% | |
The first instance of booth capturing in India was recorded in 1957 in the General Elections of that year in Rachiyahi, in Begusarai's Matihani assembly seat.[5] [6] [7] [8]