Elections to the

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...

were held in February 1967, to elect members of the 318 constituencies in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, India. The

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 ...

won the most seats as well as the popular vote, but

Mahamaya Prasad Sinha Mahamaya Prasad Sinha (1 May 1909 – 1987) was an Indian politician. He was the fifth Chief Minister of Bihar from March 1967 to January 1968 which was the first non congress Government in Bihar. Sinha was a follower of Maharaja Kamakhya Narain ...

of the Jana Kranti Dal was appointed as the

Chief Minister of Bihar The chief minister of Bihar serves as the head of the Government of Bihar, overseeing its administration and governance within the constitutional framework of India. While the Governor of Bihar holds the ceremonial role of the constitutional h ...

. No single party had won a majority of seats,

Government formation

1st Government

Parties like Samyukt Socialist Party, Jan Sangh, CPI, Jan Kranti Dal and Praja Socialist together formed the government. Although the second largest party after Congress was the Samyukt Socialist Party and its leader

Karpoori Thakur Karpoori Thakur (24 January 1924 – 17 February 1988) was an Indian politician who served two terms as the 11th Chief Minister of Bihar, first from December 1970 to June 1971, and then from June 1977 to April 1979. He was popularly known as Ja ...

had a stake in the post of Chief Minister, but other parties were not ready.In such a situation, all the parties agreed on the name of Mahamaya Prasad Sinha of Jan Kranti Dal(of

Kamakhya Narain Singh Maharaja Kamakhya Narain Singh Bahadur (10 August 1916 – 7 May 1970) of Ramgarh, Jharkhand was the Maharaja Bahadur of Ramgarh Raj and later a politician. He belonged to the Rathore clan of Rajput. Early life and family He was educat ...

), who became the Chief Minister of Bihar in March 1967, while Karpoori Thakur became the Deputy Chief Minister. However, the government couldn't last even for a year.

2nd Government

Opposition to the caste composition of the ministry led to some members of the samyukt socialist party, provoked by Health minister BP Mandal(who was forced to resign by

Ram Manohar Lohia Ram Manohar Lohia ( 23 March 1910 – 12 October 1967) was an Indian political activist of the Indian independence movement and a socialist politician. As a nationalist, he worked actively to protest against colonialism, raising awareness of th ...

), join hands with the congress to form new government headed by first backward chief minister BP Mandal, which lasted just 50 days.

3rd Government

However, there was a tussle going on within the Congress on the issue of supporting the Mandal government. Angered by this decision of the party, 17 MLAs rebelled under the leadership of former Chief Minister

Binodanand Jha Binodanand Jha (17 April 1900 – 1971), also known as Pandit Binodanand Jha was an Indian politician originally from the district of Deoghar, Bihar (Baidyanathdham Deoghar), now in Jharkhand. He was educated at the Central Calcutta College, ( ...

, leader of the anti- KB Sahay group. Formed a separate faction in the name of Loktrantik Congress and withdrew support from the Mandal government. Only one month old BP Mandal government had to resign and in the new manipulation, MLA of this Loktrantik Congress camp,

Bhola Paswan Shastri Bhola Paswan Shastri (21 September 1914 - 10 September 1984) was an Indian freedom fighter and on three occasions between 1968-71 was former Chief Minister of Bihar state in India. He was born in Paswan Community in Bairgacchi village of Pu ...

became first Dalit chief minister with the help of opposition MLAs. Even his ministry lasted for just 4 months The weakening of previously dominant congress party, rising aspirations of backward classes(forward-backward tussle) and individual greed of leaders was the main reasons for these short lived govertments.

Result

Elected members

References

{{Bihar elections

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

February 1967 in Asia