Legislative Assembly elections were held in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

on March 11, 1972.

Background

The election was the 4th assembly election in West Bengal within six years. President's Rule had been introduced soon after the

1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1971. The assembly election was held alongside the 1971 Indian general election. Parties and coalitions Ahead of the 1971 election the map of party coalitions was ...

Contenders

There were two main fronts in the election; the alliance between the Congress(R) and CPI and the alliance led by CPI(M). The Congress(R)-CPI alliance was known as the Progressive Democratic Alliance. The PDA had a seven-point programme. At the time of the election Indira Gandhi's popularity peaked, with the victory in the Bangladesh Liberation War and electoral promises of land reform. The CPI had also gained significant prestige in West Bengal due to the Soviet support to the Bangladeshi cause in the war. The CPI(M)-led alliance included the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Socialist Unity Centre, the

Revolutionary Communist Party of India The Revolutionary Communist Party of India ( RCPI) is a political party in India. The party was founded as the Communist League by Saumyendranath Tagore in 1934, breaking away from the Communist Party of India (CPI). RCPI led armed uprisings af ...

, the

Marxist Forward Bloc The Marxist Forward Bloc is a political party in India, a splinter group of the All India Forward Bloc. The MFB was formed in 1953 as Satyapriya Banerjee, a member of the AIFB Central Secretariat, Amar Bose, Suhurit Chaudhury and Ram Chatterji wer ...

, the

Workers Party of India Workers Party of India is a political party in the Indian state of West Bengal. WPI has its origin in the Democratic Vanguard in India. DV was formed in 1943 when a group led by Jiban Lal Chattopadhyay broke away from the Radical Democratic Par ...

, the

Biplobi Bangla Congress Biplobi Bangla Congress (English: Revolutionary Bengal Congress; BBC) is a political party in West Bengal, India. The party emerged as a splinter group of Bangla Congress ahead of the 1971 elections of West Bengal. This political Party was fou ...

and some independents. Just before the vote there was a seat-sharing arrangement between the CPI(M)-led alliance and the All India Forward Bloc. A minor third front, the West Bengal Democratic Alliance, was led by the

Congress (O) The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a political party in India formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi. On 12 November 1969, the Prime Ministe ...

and included Sushil Kumar Dhara's

Bangla Congress The Bangla Congress was a regional political party in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was formed through a split in the Indian National Congress in 1966 and later co-governed with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) in two United F ...

faction, the rebel Samyukta Socialist Party faction and the

Indian Awami League Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Results

The Congress(R)-CPI alliance won an overwhelming majority in the assembly and formed a new state government, led by

Siddhartha Shankar Ray Siddhartha Shankar Ray (20 October 1920 – 6 November 2010) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and Indian National Congress politician from West Bengal. In his political career he held a number of offices, including Union Minister of Education (1 ...

. Several

Indian Youth Congress The Indian Youth Congress is the youth wing of the Indian National Congress party. The Indian Youth Congress was a department of the Indian National Congress from the period just after the Partition of India in 1947 until the late 1960s. While ...

leaders were found among the newly elected legislators. 14 CPI(M) candidates were declared elected, but they refused to participate in the Legislative Assembly during the period of 1972-1977 as they accused that the elections had been rigged.

Detailed result

Reception

While there were several killings during the election campaign, electoral violence had declined compared to previous elections in West Bengal. The elections were marred by accusations of rigging. CPI(M) and its allies refused to accept the election result. The left parties argued that in 172 constituencies the election had not been free and fair, accusing the Congress(R) of letting loose 'semi-fascist terror' in West Bengal. They protested by interrupting the President's speech in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

and in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

. The Congress(O) also made accusations of rigging. The former Chief Minister

Prafulla Chandra Sen Prafulla Chandra Sen (10 April 1897 – 25 September 1990) was an Indian politician and freedom fighter. He was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1962 to 1967. Background Prafulla Chandra Sen was born in the village Senhati in the Khulna ...

on the other hand alleged that the election had been rigged in at least 45 constituencies.

References

{{West Bengal assembly elections

State Assembly elections in West Bengal 1970s in West Bengal