Charu Mihir Sarkar (born 31 August 1924) was an Indian politician who was a member of the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paścimabaṅga Vidhānasabhā'') is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of West Bengal, located in eastern India. It consists of 294 members directly elected from single-seat ...

from 1967 to 1971 and served as Minister in the 1967 and 1969

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...

state cabinets.

Youth

Sarkar was born on 31 August 1924. He went to school at Malikandah in Dacca District, later receiving education at

Surendranath College Surendranath College is an undergraduate college affiliated to the University of Calcutta, in Kolkata, India. It was founded in 1884 by the nationalist leader and scholar Surendranath Banerjee. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate level co ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. He received

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree from

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. Sarkar as contested the Scheduled Castes seat in the Bongaon constituency in the

1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal state assembly election of 1957 was part of a series of state assembly elections in 1957. State Reorganization On 1 November 1956, under States Reorganisation Act, 1956, a portion of the Purnea district east of the river Mahan ...

, standing as a

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 ...

candidate. He finished in second place with 20,959 votes (29.54%), finishing ahead of former Minister of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Jogendra Nath Mandal Jogendranath Mandal ( Bengali: যোগেন্দ্রনাথ মন্ডল; 29 January 1904 – 5 October 1968) emerged as a prominent figure among the architects of the nascent state of Pakistan. He served as the inaugural Minister of ...

Social work

Sarkar was involved in various social welfare activities in his home district. He founded the Ramchandrapur Palli Mongal Vidhyapith, and became its headmaster.

Minister

Sarkar won the Hanskhali (SC) seat in the

1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Indian state of West Bengal in 1967 to elect 280 members to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. United Front led by Ajoy Mukherjee won majority of seats in the election, and formed the first non-Congr ...

, standing as a

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 Unite ...

candidate. He obtained 33,298 votes (67.12%), defeating R.K. Mallick of 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 ...

in a straight contest. On 5 July 1967 he was sworn in as a Minister without Portfolio in the

state government, after prolonged negotiations on including a minister from Scheduled Castes in the cabinet. Sarkar retained the Hanskhali (SC) seat in the

1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Elections were held in Indian state of West Bengal in February 1969 to elect 280 members to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. United Front formed the government with Ajoy Mukherjee as the Chief Minister. United Front won a landslide 214 seat ...

, obtaining 25,957 votes (51.75%). Sarkar was named Minister for Community Development in the second

government formed in 1969. Sarkar, along with two other Bangla Congress ministers, resigned from his post as Minister on 19 February 1970. On 16 March 1970

Ajoy Mukherjee Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 April 1901 – 27 May 1986) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served three short terms as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. He hailed from Tamluk, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal. Ajoy Kum ...

, the chief minister, presented his resignation, and the government was dismissed on 19 March 1970.

1971 election

Sarkar lost the Hanskhali (SC) seat in 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 re ...

. He obtained 4,574 votes (8.79%), finishing in third place behind the INC and

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the six national parties of India. ...

candidates.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkar, Charumihir 1924 births Possibly living people Bangla Congress politicians West Bengal MLAs 1967–1969 West Bengal MLAs 1969–1971 State cabinet ministers of West Bengal Praja Socialist Party politicians