| Country: | India |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1957 Indian general election |
| Previous Year: | 1957 |
| Next Election: | 1967 Indian general election |
| Next Year: | 1967 |
| Election Date: | 19–25 February 1962 |
| Seats For Election: | 494 of the 508 seats in the Lok Sabha |
| Majority Seats: | 248 |
| Registered: | 216,361,569 |
| Turnout: | 55.42% (9.98 pp) |
| Leader1: | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Party1: | Indian National Congress |
| Last Election1: | 47.78%, 371 seats |
| Seats1: | 361 |
| Seat Change1: | 10 |
| Popular Vote1: | 51,509,084 |
| Percentage1: | 44.72% |
| Swing1: | 3.06pp |
| Leader2: | Shripad Amrit Dange |
| Party2: | Communist Party of India |
| Last Election2: | 8.92%, 27 seats |
| Seats2: | 29 |
| Seat Change2: | 2 |
| Popular Vote2: | 11,450,037 |
| Percentage2: | 9.94% |
| Swing2: | 1.02pp |
| Leader3: | C. Rajagopalachari |
| Party3: | Swatantra Party |
| Last Election3: | New |
| Seats3: | 18 |
| Seat Change3: | New |
| Popular Vote3: | 9,085,252 |
| Percentage3: | 7.89% |
| Swing3: | New |
| Leader4: | Deendayal Upadhyaya |
| Party4: | Bharatiya Jana Sangh |
| Last Election4: | 5.97%, 4 seats |
| Seats4: | 14 |
| Seat Change4: | 10 |
| Popular Vote4: | 7,415,170 |
| Percentage4: | 6.44% |
| Swing4: | 0.47pp |
| Leader5: | Jayaprakash Narayan |
| Party5: | Praja Socialist Party |
| Seats5: | 12 |
| Popular Vote5: | 7,848,345 |
| Percentage5: | 6.81% |
| Swing5: | 3.60pp |
| Last Election5: | 10.41%, 19 seats |
| Seat Change5: | 7 |
| 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 |
| Outgoing Members: | List of members of the 2nd Lok Sabha |
| Elected Members: | List of members of the 3rd Lok Sabha |
General elections were held in India between 19 and 25 February 1962 to elect members of the third Lok Sabha. Unlike the previous two elections, each constituency elected a single member.[1]
Jawaharlal Nehru won another landslide victory in his third and final election campaign. The Indian National Congress received 44.7% of the vote and won 361 of the 494 elected seats. This was only slightly lower than in the previous two elections and they still held over 70% of the seats in the Lok Sabha.
| Party | Seats | Popular vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contested | Won | +/− | Votes | % | ±pp | ||
| Indian National Congress | 43 | 34 | 3 | 57,11,263 | 47.96% | 3.51% | |
| Communist Party of India | 20 | 7 | 5 | 25,05,619 | 21.04% | 9.03% | |
| Swatantra Party | 28 | 1 | 1 | 17,75,495 | 14.91% | New | |
| Independents | 44 | 1 | 1 | 16,53,436 | 13.89% | 5.37% | |
| Total | 43 | 1,19,08,021 | |||||
| Party | Seats | Popular vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contested | Won | +/− | Votes | % | ±pp | ||
| Indian National Congress | 12 | 9 | 4 | 57,11,263 | 45.16% | 6.52% | |
| Praja Socialist Party | 8 | 2 | 4,78,099 | 19.16% | 0.8% | ||
| All Party Hill Leaders Conference | 1 | 1 | New | 91,850 | 3.68% | New | |
| Communist Party of India | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1,76,098 | 7.06% | 3.19% | |
| Independents | 13 | 0 | 1 | 5,16,793 | 20.71% | 2.6% | |
| Total | 12 | 24,95,311 | |||||
| Party | Seats | Popular vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contested | Won | +/− | Votes | % | ±pp | ||
| Indian National Congress | 53 | 39 | 2 | 43,65,148 | 43.89% | 0.58% | |
| Praja Socialist Party | 32 | 2 | 12,62,106 | 12.69% | 8.95% | ||
| Swatantra Party | 43 | 7 | New | 18,11.170 | 18.21% | New | |
| Communist Party of India | 16 | 1 | 5 | 6,34,516 | 6.38% | 1.36% | |
| Independents | 34 | 0 | 1 | 4,93,330 | 4.96% | 10.88% | |
| Total | 53 | 99,46,244 | |||||
| Party | Seats | Popular vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contested | Won | +/− | Votes | % | ±pp | ||
| Indian National Congress | 22 | 16 | - | 27,76,327 | 52.56% | - | |
| Swatantra Party | 14 | 4 | - | 13,20,405 | 25.0% | - | |
| Praja Socialist Party | 6 | 1 | - | 3,74,813 | 7.1% | - | |
| Nutan Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad | 3 | 1 | - | 1,95,812 | 3.71% | - | |
| Independents | 14 | 0 | - | 4,69,020 | 8.88% | - | |
| Total | 22 | 52,82,558 | |||||
| Party | Seats | Popular vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contested | Won | +/− | Votes | % | ±pp | ||
| Indian National Congress | 41 | 31 | 56,23,013 | 45.26 | 1.26% | ||
| Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 18 | 7 | 7 | 23,15,610 | 18.64 | New | |
| Communist Party of India | 14 | 2 | 12,72,313 | 10.24 | 0.18% | ||
| Swatantra Party | 16 | 0 | New | 13,00,526 | 10.47 | New | |
| Independents | 46 | 0 | 8 | 9,33,150 | 7.51 | 32.26% | |
| Total | 41 | 1,24,24,036 | |||||
In 1963 a by-election was held for the Bilaspur Lok Sabha seat, which was at the time in Madhya Pradesh. The by-election was won by the Indian National Congress candidate Chandrabhan Singh, with votes, against M. L. Shukla of Jana Sangh with votes.[2] This by-election was needed because the original election for this seat was declared void by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which judged that the nomination papers of one of the candidates, Bashir Ahmed Qureshi, "was improperly and illegally rejected by the Returning Officer".[3]