East Bengali legislative election, 1954
|
||||||||||||||||
|
All 309 seats in the East Bengal Legislative Assembly 156 seats needed for a majority |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
Governor Rule
Muslim League
Legislative elections were held in East Bengal between 8 and 12 March 1954, the first since Pakistan became an independent country in 1947. The opposition United Front led by the Awami League and Krishak Sramik Party won a landslide victory with 223 of the 309 seats. The Muslim League Chief Minister of East Pakistan Nurul Amin was defeated in his own constituency by Khaleque Nawaz Khan by over 7,000 votes, with all the Muslim League ministers losing their seats.
The Bengal Assembly had been elected as part of the provincial elections in British India in 1946. Its term was extended several times, with around 34 seats left vacant as by-elections were not held.
The East Bengal Legislative Assembly consisted of 309 seats, of which 228 were reserved for Muslims, 36 for scheduled castes, 12 for women (nine Muslims, one general and one scheduled caste), two for Buddhists and one for Christians. There were also 30 general seats.
A total of 19,541,563 voters were registered for the elections, of which 9,239,720 were women. Of the total voters, 15,159,825 were able to vote in the Muslim seats, 2,303,578 in the scheduled caste seats, 2,095,355 in the general seats, 136,417 in the Buddhist seats and 43,911 for the Christian seat.
The Muslim League published its manifesto on 13 December 1953, calling for Bengali to be made an official state language, reform in agricultural and education and improvements in healthcare, and began its campaign in January 1954. The Awami League published a 41-point manifesto focusing on autonomy, political reform and nationalisation. The Communists published a 22-point manifesto on 2 December, calling for them to be the leading party in a united front against the Muslim League, as well as promoting autonomy and the recognition of Bengali.
...
Wikipedia