1991 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
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24 April 1991
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All 294 seats in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly 148 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 76.8% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Alliance wise Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1991. The election took place simultaneously with the 1991 Indian general election.[1][2] The term of the assembly elected in 1987 lasted until February 1992, but the West Bengal Government asked the Election Commission of India to arrange the election at an earlier date.[3]
Parties contesting the election
Left Front
The campaign of the Left Front focused on issues relating to secularism, communal harmony and the Mandal Commission.[4][5]
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), the dominant partner in the Left Front, opted to deny reelection to 23 incumbent legislators, including one minister (Abdul Bari).[5] In total CPI(M) fielded 204 candidates, AIFB 34, RSP 23, CPI 12, WBSP 4, MFB 2, DSP 2, RCPI 2, CRLI 1, Janata Dal 8 and the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League 1.[6][7]
Congress
The Indian National Congress (Indira) had seat-sharing arrangement, whereby INC(I) contested 285 seats, the Jharkhand Party 4, the GNLF 3, UCPI 1 and 1 independent.[7]
Jubilant over the CPI(M)-led alliance of Communist parties losing power in 1988 in Tripura, another Indian state with a Bengali majority under Communist rule since 1977, the Indian National Congress (I) brought back former Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray into the party ahead of the 1991 elections, and appointed him head of the West Bengal party unit.[5] Whilst the Congress was keen to exploit Ray's popularity, who campaigned on the issues of corruption like the 'Bengal Lamp scam' raised by the former PWD minister of the Left Front Jatin Chakraborty, the 1990 Bantala rape case and alleged that the deindustrialisation of the state had been caused due to Jyoti Basu's support to hypeeactivity of Communist labour unions, the CPI(M) organ Ganashakti published articles on a daily basis reminding voters of Ray's role in perpetrating state-sponsored anti-Communist violence during the Emergency era.[5]
The INC(I) was suffering from internal divisions in West Bengal at the time of the election.[4] The West Bengal state party HQ was attacked by disgruntled Congressmen.[4] In the midst of a rally in Diamond Harbour, with ex Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as speaker, rival Congress factions clashed.[4]
At the time, the United Communist Party of India was a Congress ally.[3] UCPI fielded a single candidate in Chandrakona constituency, who finished in second place.[6]
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party fielded 291 candidates across the state.[6][8] This was the first time BJP fielded such a large number of candidates in West Bengal assembly elections.[8] Rather than focusing primarily on the Ram-mandir issue, which was highlighted in the BJP campaigns across the country, the West Bengal BJP campaign concentrated on agitations against illegal infiltration of Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh (which at that time.facing political instability due to the fall of Hussain Muhammad Ershad).[9] The campaign sought to invoke memories of Partition among the Bengali Hindus, especially among the Bangal community, many of whom happenend to be East Bengali refugees.[9] Whilst support for BJP increased amongst Bengali Hindu society, its main stronghold in the state remained non-Bengali Hindu populations in Calcutta (especially among Marwaris and Gujaratis).[9]
Socialist Unity Centre of India
The Socialist Unity Centre of India fielded 59 candidates, contesting as independents.[7] It had launched an electoral front ahead of the polls, along with some Naxalite factions, the Workers Party of India, a RCPI faction and the Bolshevik Party of India.[10] SUCI won two seats.[7]
Seat Allotment
| Party | Flag | Symbol | Leader | Contesting Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) |  |
_Election_symbol.png) |
Jyoti Basu | 204 | 225 | |
| Janata Dal |  |
Vishwanath Pratap Singh | 8 | |||
| West Bengal Socialist Party |  |
Kiranmoy Nanda | 4 | |||
| Biplobi Bangla Congress | |
2 | ||||
| Revolutionary Communist Party of India |  |
Baneswar Saikia[11] | 2 | |||
| Marxist Forward Bloc | |
Pratim Chatterjee | 2 | |||
| Democratic Socialist Party |  |
Prabodh Chandra Sinha | 1 | |||
| Communist Revolutionary League of India | |
1 | ||||
| Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League |  |
1 | ||||
| All India Forward Bloc |  |
 |
Chitta Basu | 34 | ||
| Revolutionary Socialist Party |  |
 |
Kshiti Goswami | 23 | ||
| Communist Party of India |  |
 |
Indrajit Gupta | 12 | ||
| Total | 294 | |||||
| Party | Flag | Symbol | Leader | Contesting Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian National Congress |  |
 |
Siddhartha Shankar Ray | 285 | |
| Jharkhand Party | |
N. E. Horo | 4 | ||
| Gorkha National Liberation Front |  |
|
3 | ||
| United Communist Party of India | |
|
Mohit Sen | 1 | |
| Independent | |
|
1 | ||
| Total | 294 | ||||
| Party | Flag | Symbol | Leader | Contesting Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bharatiya Janata Party |  |
 |
Tapan Sikdar | 291 | |
| Total | 291 | ||||
Results
The election was won by the Left Front, marking its fourth consecutive assembly election victory.[12] The Left Front and allies won 245 out of the 294 seats.[6][12] BJP managed to increase its share of votes from 0.51% in 1987 to 11.34%. It was the best ever performance of BJP in the state until 2014 general elections.
| Party | Candidates | Seats | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Left Front & allies | Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
204 | 182 | 10,954,379 | 35.37 |
| All India Forward Bloc | 34 | 29 | 1,707,676 | 5.51 | |
| Revolutionary Socialist Party | 23 | 18 | 1,073,445 | 3.47 | |
| Communist Party of India | 12 | 6 | 542,964 | 1.75 | |
| West Bengal Socialist Party | 4 | 4 | 208,147 | 0.67 | |
| Marxist Forward Bloc | 2 | 2 | 130,454 | 0.42 | |
| Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) | 2 | 2 | 98,905 | 0.39 | |
| Revolutionary Communist Party of India | 2 | 1 | 92,544 | 0.30 | |
| Biplobi Bangla Congress | 1 | 0 | 50,414 | 0.16 | |
| Janata Dal | 8 | 1 | 208,951 | 0.67 | |
| Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League | 1 | 0 | 35,489 | 0.11 | |
| Communist Revolutionary League of India | 1 | 0 | 22,716 | 0.07 | |
| Congress & allies | Indian National Congress (Indira) | 284 | 43 | 10,875,834 | 35.12 |
| Gorkha National Liberation Front | 3 | 3 | 146,541 | 0.47 | |
| Jharkhand Party | 6 | 1 | 140,391 | 0.45 | |
| United Communist Party of India | 1 | 0 | 40,806 | 0.13 | |
| Congress-supported independent | 1 | 0 | 40,426 | 0.13 | |
| Bharatiya Janata Party | 291 | 0 | 3,513,121 | 11.34 | |
| Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | 23 | 0 | 95,038 | 0.31 | |
| Bahujan Samaj Party | 97 | 0 | 88,836 | 0.29 | |
| Janata Party | 78 | 0 | 50,037 | 0.16 | |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) | 18 | 0 | 41,828 | 0.14 | |
| Indian People's Front | 23 | 0 | 39,004 | 0.13 | |
| Indian Union Muslim League | 28 | 0 | 28,156 | 0.09 | |
| Amra Bangalee | 60 | 0 | 22,295 | 0.07 | |
| Workers Party of India | 6 | 0 | 10,670 | 0.03 | |
| Hul Jharkhand Party | 3 | 0 | 9,239 | 0.03 | |
| Doordashti Party | 26 | 0 | 4,980 | 0.02 | |
| Marxist Communist Party of India | 5 | 0 | 3,804 | 0.01 | |
| Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha | 5 | 0 | 1,553 | 0.01 | |
| Akhil Bharatiya Jan Sangh | 6 | 0 | 1,485 | 0.00 | |
| Indian National Congress (O) Anti Merger Group | 5 | 0 | 1,309 | 0.00 | |
| All India Dalit Muslim Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh | 2 | 0 | 988 | 0.00 | |
| Revolutionary Communist Party of India (Gouranga Sit) | 1 | 0 | 983 | 0.00 | |
| Shiv Sena | 1 | 0 | 880 | 0.00 | |
| Indian Congress (Socialist-Sarat Chandra Sinha) | 1 | 0 | 876 | 0.00 | |
| Bolshevik Party of India | 1 | 0 | 335 | 0.00 | |
| Bharat Dal | 1 | 0 | 203 | 0.00 | |
| Lok Dal | 1 | 0 | 121 | 0.00 | |
| Bidhan Dal | 1 | 0 | 92 | 0.00 | |
| Independents Including Socialist Unity Centre of India candidates |
631 | 2 | 684,130 | 2.21% | |
| Total | 1,903 | 294 | 30,970,045 | 100 | |
| Source: Election Commission of India[13] | |||||
Since a CPI(M)-led alliance of Communist parties in Kerala had lost the elections in Kerala held simultaneously that year to a Congress-led alliance, West Bengal was the lone Indian state to be under Communist rule until 1993 when the Communists were re-elected back to power in Tripura.
Elected members
See also
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
- 1 2 Ananth V. Krishna (1 September 2011). India Since Independence: Making Sense of Indian Politics. Pearson Education India. p. 385. ISBN 978-81-317-3465-0.
- 1 2 3 4 India Today. State assemblies: Of crucial importance
- 1 2 3 4 India Today. Assembly elections: Seeking a separate strategy
- 1 2 3 4 Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1991 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
- 1 2 3 4 Communist Party of India (Marxist). West Bengal State Committee. Election results of West Bengal: statistics & analysis, 1952–1991. The Committee. p. 4. ISBN 9788176260282.
- 1 2 Pratap Chandra Swain (2001). Bharatiya Janata Party: Profile and Performance. APH Publishing. p. 214. ISBN 978-81-7648-257-8.
- 1 2 3 Christophe Jaffrelot (1999). The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics: 1925 to the 1990s : Strategies of Identity-building, Implantation and Mobilisation (with Special Reference to Central India). Penguin Books India. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-14-024602-5.
- ↑ Shiv Lal (1992). Election Archives and International Politics (191–196 ed.). Shiv Lal. p. 194.
- ↑ Revolutionary Communist Party of India. Leadership
- 1 2 Sumantra Bose (16 September 2013). Transforming India. Harvard University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-674-72819-6.
- ↑ Communist Party of India (Marxist). West Bengal State Committee. Election results of West Bengal: statistics & analysis, 1952–1991. The Committee. pp. 4, 69.