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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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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 PWD minister of the Left Front Jatin Chakraborty & the 1990 Bantala rape case (committed in an attempt to hide corruption) and highlighted the deindustrialisation of the state caused due to Jyoti Basu's support to the hyperactivity 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.[9] The campaign sought to invoke memories of Partition among the Bengali Hindus, especially among the Bangal community.[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]
Results
The election was won by the Left Front, marking its fourth consecutive assembly election victory.[11] The Left Front and allies won 245 out of the 294 seats.[6][11] 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.