Question

Highlight any two difficulties faced by the Election Commission of India to hold free and fair elections in 1952.

Hint:

India's First Election Officer: Sukumar Sen. Major challenges in 1952: - Huge electorate (17 crore) - Low literacy rate (15%) - Training over 3 lakh polling staff.

Answer 1

Concept: Holding India's first general election in 1952 under universal adult franchise was an unprecedented democratic experiment due to the immense scale and logistical challenges.

Step 1: Difficulty 1 --- Enormous Size and Widespread Illiteracy of Electorate.
There were around 17 crore eligible voters, out of which only about 15 percent were literate. Designing a voting system with symbols so that illiterate voters could cast their votes secretly and correctly was a major technical obstacle.

Step 2: Difficulty 2 --- Preparation and Accuracy of Electoral Rolls.
Preparing electoral rolls across a vast and diverse nation was extremely tough. In the first draft, names of nearly 40 lakh women were not recorded by their own names but entered simply as "wife of..." or "daughter of...", forcing the Election Commission under Sukumar Sen to reject these entries and order revision.