Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election, 1957

← 1951

March–May 1957

1962 →

all 75 seats in Legislative Assembly
38 seats needed for a majority

Turnout

60-70%

	First party	Second party

Leader	Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad
Party	JKN	Praja Parishad
Last election	75	0
Seats won	68	5
Seat change	7	5

	Third party

Party	Harijan Mandal
Last election	0
Seats won	1
Seat change	1

Chief Minister before election

Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad
JKN

Elected Chief Minister

Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad
JKN

The first elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir under its own Constitution were held in March–June 1957.Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was appointed Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, elected in 1951, which also functioned as the State's legislative assembly during its term of 6 years, dissolved itself in January 1957 having passed the State's Constitution.

Prior to that, in 1953, Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed as the Prime Minister by the Sadar-i-Riyasat Karan Singh on the grounds that he had lost the majority in the Cabinet. The former deputy prime minister Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was appointed in his place. Sheikh Abdullah, along with Mirza Afzal Beg and thirty three other loyalists, was imprisoned by the incoming government.

After Mirza Afzal Beg was released in November 1954, he, along with G. M. Hamdani, formed the All Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front, demanding self-determination for Kashmiris through a plebiscite organised under United Nations supervision. The Plebiscite Front counted seven sitting legislators among its members. Other parties joined them in support: the Kashmir Political Conference, the Kashmir Democratic Union and the Praja Socialist Party.

In 1955, the left-wing faction of the ruling Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, led by G. M. Sadiq, fell out with the leadership and resigned from the party's Working Committee. Sadiq had a volley of complaints against the party leadership, ranging from manhandling by the party's gangs, corruption, to authoritarian and unprincipled leadership. He also complained about the nomination procedures for the upcoming Legislative Assembly election.

...
Wikipedia