UPSC Prelims 2018— Question 1

**Concept and analysis:** The first Lok Sabha (1952–1957) was overwhelmingly dominated by the Indian National Congress; the Swatantra Party was founded only in 1959, so it could not have been the largest opposition party in the first Lok Sabha. The office of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha was formally recognised in 1969. The 75-member threshold is not a constitutional requirement; the Speaker’s recognition follows parliamentary conventions and the relevant statute, and the conventional 10% rule has also been treated as a recognition criterion rather than a constitutional minimum. The question is testing precise UPSC-level identification rather than a broad association. The key is to distinguish the exact institutional, constitutional, historical, geographical, economic or scientific feature being asked. **Option-wise evaluation** **Option A:** Incorrect. It selects 1 and 3 only, but that combination does not match the verified statement-level assessment; it either includes a false statement or omits a true one. **Option B:** Correct. It selects statements 2; these are the statements supported by the relevant constitutional, economic, historical, scientific or geographical facts. **Option C:** Incorrect. It selects 2 and 3 only, but that combination does not match the verified statement-level assessment; it either includes a false statement or omits a true one. **Option D:** Incorrect. It selects 1, 2 and 3, but that combination does not match the verified statement-level assessment; it either includes a false statement or omits a true one. **UPSC takeaway:** The safest way to solve this type of question is to anchor the answer in the defining feature of the concept and then test every option against that feature. Closely related institutions or terms are often used as distractors. In statement-based questions, do not judge the option as a whole before checking each statement independently. In factual questions, compare the wording of each option with the exact definition, location, institutional role, chronology or scientific property. The correct answer follows from that verification rather than from familiarity with a keyword.