1996 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1996.
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All 294 seats in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly 148 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 82.94% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The election took place simultaneously with the 1996 Indian general election.[1][2]
Parties[]
Left Front[]
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had fielded 70 new candidates, but many of them failed to get elected.[3] The All India Forward Bloc had suffered a split before the election, with the emergence of the Forward Bloc (Socialist).[3]
The Left Front supported Janata Dal candidates in five constituencies.
Indian National Congress[]
In the Congress Party, there was confrontation between West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Somen Mitra and Indian Youth Congress leader Mamata Banerjee.[4] Banerjee played an important role in rallying public support for the party.[4][5]
The Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury contested the Nabagram seat from jail, being imprisoned on murder charges.[6] His speeches were recorded from prison and played at campaign meetings.[6]
The Indian National Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had entered into alliance.[7]
Results[]
The Left Front won the election, entering into government for a fifth consecutive term.[3] Winning 203 out of 294 seats, the 1996 election represented the first major electoral set-back for the Left Front since its foundation.[8][9] The electoral losses were primarily felt in Calcutta and the industrial areas, and nine incumbent Left Front ministers failed to get re-elected.[8] All JD candidates finished in second place and RCPI lost its representation in the assembly.[9] However, in terms of votes the Left Front and the five JD candidates got 18,143,795 votes (49.3%).[10] Jyoti Basu's fifth Left Front government was sworn in, with 48 ministers representing all 13 districts of the state.[8]
Party | Candidates | Seats | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Left Front and allies | Communist Party of India (Marxist) Including candidates from Samajwadi Party contesting on CPI(M) tickets. |
213 | 153 | 13,670,198 | 37.16 |
All India Forward Bloc | 34 | 21 | 1,912,183 | 5.20 | |
Revolutionary Socialist Party | 23 | 18 | 1,367,439 | 3.72 | |
Communist Party of India | 12 | 6 | 642,993 | 1.75 | |
Marxist Forward Bloc | 2 | 2 | 150,099 | 0.41 | |
Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) | 2 | 2 | 129,367 | 0.35 | |
Revolutionary Communist Party of India (Rasik Bhatt) | 2 | 0 | 105,366 | 0.29 | |
Biplobi Bangla Congress | 1 | 1 | 60,453 | 0.16 | |
Janata Dal | 5 | 0 | 105,697 | 0.29 | |
Indian National Congress | 288 | 82 | 14,523,964 | 39.48 | |
Bharatiya Janata Party | 292 | 0 | 2,372,480 | 6.45 | |
Gorkha National Liberation Front | 3 | 3 | 161,498 | 0.44 | |
8 | 1 | 145,503 | 0.40 | ||
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | 26 | 0 | 134,436 | 0.37 | |
Forward Bloc (Socialist) | 20 | 1 | 123,316 | 0.34 | |
Bahujan Samaj Party | 48 | 0 | 67,853 | 0.18 | |
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation | 30 | 0 | 47,206 | 0.13 | |
Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League | 3 | 0 | 43,261 | 0.12 | |
All India Indira Congress (Tiwari) | 29 | 0 | 20,555 | 0.06 | |
Muslim League | 20 | 0 | 19,221 | 0.05 | |
Amra Bangalee | 46 | 0 | 17,330 | 0.05 | |
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Mardi) | 5 | 0 | 11,593 | 0.03 | |
Pachim Banga Rajya Muslim League | 5 | 0 | 5,359 | 0.01 | |
Indian National League | 7 | 0 | 4,480 | 0.01 | |
Social Action Party | 16 | 0 | 4,476 | 0.01 | |
Jharkhand Party | 5 | 0 | 3,533 | 0.01 | |
Hul Jharkhand Party | 2 | 0 | 3,309 | 0.01 | |
Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh | 2 | 0 | 2,448 | 0.01 | |
Samajwadi Jan Parishad | 2 | 0 | 1,218 | 0.00 | |
Indian Democratic People's Party | 3 | 0 | 515 | 0.00 | |
All India Christian Democratic and Backward People's Party | 1 | 0 | 392 | 0.00 | |
Indian Union Muslim League | 1 | 0 | 251 | 0.00 | |
Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha | 2 | 0 | 178 | 0.00 | |
Akhil Bharatiya Jan Sangh | 1 | 0 | 49 | 0.00 | |
Independents | 844 | 4 | 898,677 | 2.44 | |
Total | 2,035 | 294 | 36,788,753 | 100 | |
Source: Election Commission of India[9] |
References[]
- ^ M. L. Ahuja (2000). Handbook of General Elections and Electoral Reforms in India, 1952–1999. Mittal Publications. p. 49. ISBN 978-81-7099-766-5.
- ^ The Hindu. The case against simultaneous polls
- ^ a b c India Today. Shrinking mandate
- ^ a b India Today. West Bengal: Advantage Left Front
- ^ rediff.com. The X Factor
- ^ a b Indian Express. TMC’s Madan Mitra electoral battle from jail looks a winner
- ^ Communist Party of India (Marxist). Review of the May 2001 Assembly Elections (may 2001)
- ^ a b c N. Jose Chander (1 January 2004). Coalition Politics: The Indian Experience. Concept Publishing Company. pp. 105–111. ISBN 978-81-8069-092-1.
- ^ a b c Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1996 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
- ^ Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1991 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
External links[]
- 1996 State Assembly elections in India
- State Assembly elections in West Bengal
- 1990s in West Bengal
- 1996 in Indian politics