New Delhi, May 17: Congress improved its tally by
one this time around to enjoy complete power in all the seven
parliamentary constituencies in the capital as it did in 1971
and 1984 Lok Sabha elections since 1952 when Delhi went for
general elections for the first time.
In 1952, Delhi had only four Lok Sabha seats and Congress
bagged three of them while one was won by a woman candidate,
Suchita Kriplani of Krishak Majdoor Praja Party.
She was the first woman candidate to represent the
Capital in the Lok Sabha.
In 1957 and 1962, Congress retained all the seats which
were increased to five namely Delhi Sadar, Outer Delhi, Karol
Bagh, Chandani Chowk and New Delhi. Kriplani switched to
Congress in 1957 and was re-elected from New Delhi.
In 1967, Delhi had seven Lok Sabha seats of which the
Congress retained only one that was Outer Delhi while the rest
were bagged by Bhartiya Jan Sangha. In 1971, Congress bagged
all seven seats in Delhi with Subhadra Kumari Chauhan being
the lone woman parliamentarian to represent Delhi in the Lok
Sabha.
Six years later in 1977, Congress lost all seven seats to
the then Janata Party due to the anti-emergency wave.
However, in 1980, Congress improved its performance and
snatched six seats.
In 1984, riding on the sympathy wave after the
assassination of Indira Gandhi, Congress again swept all the
seven seats by impressive margins.
Bureau Report
