The first general election
Kalpa (Chini), Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh
The first votes are cast in snowbound Chini on 25 October 1951; by February 1952 an electorate of 173 million has chosen the first Lok Sabha.
Chini, the old name of the Kalpa area in Kinnaur, and Pangi in the Himalaya voted first because snow would close them by winter; the schoolteacher Shyam Saran Negi of Kalpa is remembered as the first voter. Most of the country polled in January and February 1952. Since most voters could not read, every party had a symbol and every candidate a separate ballot box.
The Congress won 364 of the 489 elected seats with 45 per cent of the vote. The 401 constituencies were the first electoral map of the Republic, run by Sukumar Sen's new Election Commission; Jammu and Kashmir did not vote.
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