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New Delhi
By Lalit K. Jha
Some of the 42 Assembly constituencies of 1951 which are now only a part of the record books include Tokriwalan, Pahari Dhiraj Basti Jullahan, Phatak Habash Khan, Maliwara, Chittar Gupta, Purana Qila and Vinay Nagar. Assembly constituencies like Kotla Feroze Shah, Safdarjung, Kashmere Gate, Darya Ganj, Civil Lines, Chawri Bazaar and Ajmeri Gate are now merely important landmarks of the Capital. Though not much detail about the first Delhi Assembly elections is available, official record books reveal that some of the 42 were double-member constituencies: Reading Road, Sita Ram Bazaar, Turkmaan Gate, Pahari Dhiraj Basti Julahan, Reghar Pura Dev Nagar, Narela and Mehrauli. As many as 406 candidates had filed their nominations, but only 186 were left in the fray for the first Assembly elections held on March 27, 1951, after 34 applications were rejected and 186 were withdrawn. Of these, 87 lost and forfeited their deposits. Thus on an average four candidates were left in the fray for each seat. Straight contests were witnessed at Delhi Cantonment, Jhandewalan, Chawri Bazaar, Tibbia College and Wazirabad. Triangular contest was witnessed at Tokri Walan, Darya Ganj, Ajmeri Gate, Mantola, Safdarjung and Parliament Street. The maximum number of 13 candidates was in the fray for the Mehrauli Assembly constituency. As against more than 82 lakh voters in the Capital today, there were just 744,668 of them for the 1951 Assembly elections. As many as 58.52 per cent exercised their franchise and voted the Congress to power with 39 seats. The first Chief Minister of Delhi, Choudhary Brahm Perkash, had defeated his nearest rival, Balbir Singh of the Socialist Party, by a margin of 4,517 votes in a four-corner contest. One of the first members of the first Delhi Assembly, Jag Pravesh Chandra, who died last year, had won from Kishan Ganj Anand Parbat by defeating Nidhan Singh of the Bhartiya Jan Sangh by 1,913 votes in a six-corner contest. He represented the Congress, which got 52.09 per cent of the total votes polled. The Bhartiya Jan Sangh was placed a distant second with 21.89 per cent of the votes and five seats. While there were eight other national parties, none other polled more than 3 per cent of the votes. The Socialist Party won two seats and polled 2.38 per cent of the votes, while the Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha won one seat with 1.32 per cent votes. Among the other national parties which contested the 1951 Delhi Assembly elections were Communist Party of India (one seat), Forwad Block (Marxist Group) (two), Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (seven), Akhil Bhartiya Ram Rajya Parishad (four), Revolutionary Socialist Party (one) and All India Scheduled Caste Federation (five). While the Election Commission report on 1951 Delhi Assembly elections states that none of the contestants were females, close scrutiny of names indicate that at least a few of them were women: Pushpa Devi (Congress) from Purana Qilla Viney Nagar, Shakuntala (independent) from Reading Road, Jamila Begum (independent) from Ballimaran. Pushpa Devi was declared winner in a five-corner contest.
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