1969 Bihar Legislative Assembly election

1969 Bihar legislative assembly election

← 1967 9 February 1969 1972 →

318 seats to the Bihar Legislative Assembly
160 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Harihar Singh B. P. Mandal
Party INC SSP ABJS
Seats won 118 52 34
Popular vote 4,570,413 2,052,274 2,345,780
Percentage 30.46% 13.68% 15.63%

  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Party CPI PSP
Seats won 25 18
Popular vote 1,515,105 846,563
Percentage 10.10% 5.64%

CM before election

President's rule
N/A

Elected CM

Harihar Singh
INC

An election was held in 1969 to elect members to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Bihar. After the elections, the Congress emerged as the largest party, and Harihar Singh was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar. Three parties contested in a 'Triple Alliance'; the Loktantrik Congress Dal, the Praja Socialist Party and the Samyukta Socialist Party. The Triple Alliance divided 295 out of 318 constituencies between them, assigning 23 seats to the Communist Party of India.[1]

1st Government

The Indian National Congress didn't win enough seats for an absolute majority and formed an alliance with 5 other parties, including the Janata Party, the Bharatiya Kranti Dal, the Bihar Prant Hul Jharkhand, the Shoshit Dal, the Swatantra Party and some Independents.[2] However, it lost majority when Shoshit Dal withdrew support primarily on allegations on Janata Party head Kamakhya Narain Singh.

2nd Government

Bhola Paswan shastri, the leader of the opposition in the Assembly, of Loktantrik Congress Dal became CM, with support of SSP, PSP, CPI, Jan sangh, Loktantrik congress Dal, Shoshit Dal. Ministry proved to be the shortestever government in Bihar. Nine days after Its Installation, the third SVD Ministry resigned following the withdrawal of support by the Jan sangh, which put forward the view that no defector, as a matter of principle, be appointed Minister.[3]

3rd Government

During President rule, in 1969, Congress split into Congress(O)- 50 MLAs and Congress(R) - 60 MLAs. Daroga Prasad Rai of Congress(R) became CM with support of PSP, CPI, Hul Jharkhand, Shoshit Dal and Bhartiya Kranti Dal. He constituted the Mungerilal commission, which later recommended OBC Reservation. His Ministry was dominated by the Backward castes. It fell after 10 months due to PSP and Shoshit Dal rebels.[4]

4th Government

The new SVD, which consisted of SSP, rebel PSP, Jan sangh, Congress (O), Janata party, BKD, swatantra party, factions of the jharkhand Party, Shoshit Dal and Hul jharkhand, formed government under Karpoori Thakur of SSP as CM for 6 months.[5]

5th Government

Bhola Paswan shastri once became CM, with support of Congress(R), shoshit Dal, Jharkhand party, PSP and CPI, but Congress(R) withdrew support by end of Dec 1971.[3]

  1. ^ Vishwanath Prasad Varma (1970). A Study of the Mid-term Elections in Bihar 1969. Institute of Public Administration. p. 221.
  2. ^ Upendra Mishra (1980). Bihar Politics (1967-1977) (PDF) (Thesis). Aligarh Muslim University. p. 178. Retrieved 23 July 2023. ... succeeded in securing the support of the Janata Party, the BKD, the Jharkhand Party, the Shoshit Dal, the Swatantra Party and 6 independents ...
  3. ^ a b The Lallantop (2020-10-27). देश के पहले दलित मुख्यमंत्री की कहानी |Mukhyamantri E 9| Bhola Paswan Shastri. Retrieved 2024-09-14 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ The Lallantop (2020-10-29). जब बस कंडक्टर के चक्कर में बिहार की सरकार गिर गई | Mukhyamantri E 11 | Daroga Prasad Rai. Retrieved 2024-09-14 – via YouTube.
  5. ^ The Lallantop (2020-10-30). लालू यादव और नीतीश कुमार के गुरू जो बिहार के मुख्यमंत्री बने | Mukhyamantri E 12 | Karpoori Thakur. Retrieved 2024-09-14 – via YouTube.