West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, 1996

Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1996.

The election took place simultaneously with the Indian general election, 1996.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had fielded 70 new candidates, but many of them failed to get elected. The All India Forward Bloc had suffered a split before the election, with the emergence of the Forward Bloc (Socialist).

The Left Front supported Janata Dal candidates in five constituencies.

In the Congress Party, there was confrontation between West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Soumen Mitra and Indian Youth Congress leader Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee played an important role in rallying public support for the party.

The Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury contested the Nabagram seat from jail, being imprisoned on murder charges. His speeches were recorded from prison and played at campaign meetings.

The Indian National Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had entered into alliance.

The Left Front won the election, entering into government for a fifth consecutive term. Winning 203 out of 294 seats, the 1996 election represented the first major electoral set-back for the Left Front since its foundation. The electoral losses were primarily felt in Calcutta and the industrial areas, and nine incumbent Left Front ministers failed to get re-elected. All JD candidates finished in second place and RCPI lost its representation in the assembly. However, in terms of votes the Left Front and the five JD candidates got 18,143,795 votes (49.3%).Jyoti Basu's fifth Left Front government was sworn in, with 48 ministers representing all 13 districts of the state.

...
Wikipedia