The Kerala Legislative Assembly election of 1960 was the second assembly election in the Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The elections were held on 1 February 1960.

Background

In the 1957 elections in Kerala, the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

formed the government with the support of five independents. But in 1959, the

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

dismissed the democratically elected government through the controversial Article 356 of the

Indian Constitution The Constitution of India is the supreme legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and ...

following " The Liberation Struggle", even though the elected communist government was enjoying majority support within the legislature. After a short period of the President's rule, fresh elections were called in 1960.

Constituencies

There were 114 legislative assembly constituencies in the

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 30 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 ...

, 1957. Out of these 102 were single-member constituencies while the number of double-member constituencies was 12. One constituency was reserved for Schedule Caste. There were 64,77,665 electors in single-member constituencies, while in double-member constituencies there were 15,63,333 electors. Total 312 candidates contested for the 126 seats of the 114 constituencies in the Assembly. Poll percentage was 85.72%, an increase of 20.23% from 65.49% in 1957 assembly elections.

Political parties

Four national parties,

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

Praja Socialist Party The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party. It was founded in 1952 when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the ...

and Bharatiya Jana Sangha along with the state party Muslim League took part in the assembly election. In these elections, the Indian National Congress, Praja Socialist Party, and Indian Union Muslim League formed a pre-poll alliance to counter the

. Together they fielded 125 candidates and supported an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate, while the Communist Party of India fielded 108 candidates and gave party support to 16 independents.

Results

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Contested !! Won !! Net Change
in seats !! % of
Seats ! Votes !! Vote % !! Change in
vote % !! Vote % in
contested seats , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

, , 3 , , 0 , , New , , 0 , , 5,277 , , 0.07 , , New , , 3.28 , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , 108 , , 29 , , 31 , , 23.02 , , 3,171,732 , , 39.14 , , 3.86 , , 43.79 , - style="background: #90EE90;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , 80 , , 63 , , 20 , , 50.00 , , 2,789,556 , , 34.42 , , 3.43 , , 45.37 , - style="background: #90EE90;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , 33 , , 20 , , 11 , , 15.87 , , 1,146,028 , , 14.14 , , 3.38 , , 38.41 , - , , , 12 , , 11 , , ''New'' , , 8.73 , , 401,925 , , 4.96 , , ''New'' , , 47.79 , - , , , 61 , , 3 , , 11 , , 4.17 , , 488,699 , , 5.93 , , -5.61 , , 13.96 , - class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! colspan = 3, ! style="text-align:center;" , Total Seats !! 126 ( 0) !! style="text-align:center;" , Voters !! 9,604,331 !! style="text-align:center;" , Turnout !! colspan = 3, 8,232,572 (85.72%)

By constituency

Government formation

Congress and Praja Socialist Party alliance got the majority in the election and hence formed the government. Pattom A. Thanu Pillai of the Praja Socialist Party became the chief minister and R. Sankar of the Indian National Congress became the deputy chief minister on 22 February 1960, with eleven council ministers. Pattam A. Thanu Pillai resigned on 26 September 1962 after he was appointed as the Governor of Punjab and R. Sankar became the first Congress Chief Minister of Kerala.

References

{{Kerala Niyamasabha elections

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...