When free India prepared in the winter of 1951-52 for its first general elections on the basis of universal adult franchise, many persons abroad-and quite a few Indians--wondered whether democracy would work successfully in a country with a low level of literacy and with diverse religions and languages.
The doubts have been disproved more than once over the last four decades. During this period, the people have on nine occasions chosen their representatives in the Lok Sabha (House of the People) of the Indian parliament. In the States, the electors have voted in and out of power various political parties of the Centre, the Left and the Right, and varied alliances of such.
Daniel Moynihan, a former ambassador of the U.S.A. to India, remarked: "Half of the people on earth who live in a society with civil liberties live in India." The fascinating story of the working of the world's largest democracy is told in the present work.
It provides factual data on electors, voters and the fortunes of all-India and regional political parties in the elections held during the last forty years. It also examines the issues which figured in the election manifestos and campaigning of the principal contending parties in the latest elections to the ninth Lok Sabha in November 1989. Many of these issues ranging from poverty and illiteracy to communalism, corruption and electoral reform--are problems that the country will continue to have to cope with in the coming years.
Press Trust of India is happy to have sponsored this publication. Incorporated in the year of independence as the first wire news agency to be owned and run by Indian newspapers, PTI took over the operations of the Associated Press of India-a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters-in February 1949. Since then, PTI has been telling the country and the world, hour after hour and day after day, the story of the triumphs and travails, the social and economic challenges and responses, of the democratic process in India.
I am thankful to the authors of the present work for undertaking it at my suggestion. G.N.S. Raghavan earlier wrote a history of the emergence and growth of PTI against the background of the origin and development of the Indian Press, under the title PTI Story. Dr. G. Balachandran is a versatile researcher who has made his mark as an election expert. He is known for his modification of the Cube Law model for election prognosis. The authors have drawn on PTI's extensive election coverage and computerised data with the help of Arun Kumar, PTI's Chief News Editor. How-ever, any views expressed by them in the course of this basically factual and analytical work are their own.
I have no doubt that this book, filled with data and with significant information on 20th century India during the colonial and post-independence periods, will be found useful by students of current affairs, in the country and outside, in understanding the fast-moving developments in India's vibrant democracy.
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