A bigger state, a bigger majority
What happened
Indian National Congress won again, this time overwhelmingly.
The INC won 119 of the 176 seats on offer, a landslide result that gave it a supermajority in the new house.
That was 30 seats more than it needed for a majority.
Independent candidates were the nearest rival, with 32 seats.
What changed
This was the first election held on Rajasthan's newly enlarged map, after neighbouring territory had recently been added to the state.
The number of seats in the assembly grew from 160 to 176.
Some of the new constituencies elected more than one member at once.
40 of the 136 constituencies worked this way.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that election stand out.
The closest race: Bharatpur, Rajasthan was decided by just 6 votes, the narrowest margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — anywhere in the state that year.
At the other extreme, Rajsamand, Rajasthan had the widest margin of the election, with 76.8% of the vote separating the winner from the runner-up.
The highest turnout of the election was in Kaman, Rajasthan, where 79.2% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot.
The most populous constituency was Jalore, Rajasthan, with 1,21,770 registered voters on its rolls.
The backdrop
This election followed a change to Rajasthan's own map, after neighbouring territory joined the state.
On 1 November 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Ajmer State, the Abu Road taluka of Bombay State's Banaskantha district, the Sunel enclave of Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district, and Punjab's Lohara sub-tehsil merged into Rajasthan, while Kota district's Sironj sub-division transferred to Madhya Pradesh. Assembly seats rose from 160 to 176 for the 1957 election.