1972 elections in India

1972 elections in India encompassed a series of state-level legislative assembly contests and by-elections held across the country, following the landmark 1971 general election, and marked continued dominance by the Indian National Congress (Indira). Key assembly elections included:

• Andhra Pradesh: Held on 15 March, with INC(R) winning 219 of 287 seats, reaffirming its mandate under Chief Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.
• Maharashtra: In March, INC(R) secured 222 of 270 seats, strengthening Vasantrao Naik’s leadership.
• Punjab: On 17 March, elections resulted in a victory for INC(R) led by Zail Singh, capturing 66 of 104 seats from President’s Rule.
• Rajasthan: Also in March, INC(R) claimed a landslide win with 145 of 184 seats, reinstating Barkatullah Khan as Chief Minister.
• West Bengal: Held on 11 March, the Congress (R)–CPI alliance dominated with 216 seats; opposition CPI(M) won 14 but largely boycotted the assembly citing alleged rigging.
• Other territories, including Gujarat, Haryana, and Goa, Daman & Diu, also held elections, with INC(R) maintaining control in most regions.

Elections in India

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Additionally, several by-elections took place (e.g., Gird, Joynagar, Murshidabad), and Rajya Sabha seats were filled throughout the year.

Summary of Legislative Assembly elections

Date(s)	State	Government before election		Chief Minister before election	Government after election		Chief Minister after election	Maps
5 March 1972	Himachal Pradesh		Indian National Congress	Indian National Congress		Indian National Congress (R)	Yashwant Singh Parmar
	Bihar		President's Rule			Indian National Congress (R)	Kedar Pandey
	Maharashtra		Indian National Congress (R)	Vasantrao Naik		Indian National Congress (R)	Vasantrao Naik
5 and 8 March 1972	Gujarat		President's Rule			Indian National Congress (R)	Ghanshyam Oza
6 March 1972	Rajasthan		Indian National Congress (R)	Barkatullah Khan		Indian National Congress (R)	Barkatullah Khan
	Manipur		President's Rule			Manipur People's Party	Mohammed Alimuddin
7 March 1972	Assam		Indian National Congress	Mahendra Mohan Choudhry		Indian National Congress (R)	Sarat Chandra Singha
8 March 1972	Madhya Pradesh		Indian National Congress	Shyama Charan Shukla		Indian National Congress	Prakash Chandra Sethi
9 March 1972	Meghalaya	New state was created				All Party Hill Leaders Conference	Williamson A. Sangma
11 March 1972	West Bengal		President's Rule			Indian National Congress (R)	Siddhartha Shankar Ray
	Haryana		Indian National Congress	Bansi Lal		Indian National Congress (R)	Bansi Lal
	Tripura		President's Rule			Indian National Congress (R)	Sukhamoy Sen Gupta
15 March 1972	Andhra Pradesh		Indian National Congress (R)	Kasu Brahmananda Reddy		Indian National Congress (R)	P. V. Narasimha Rao
8 April 1972	Mizoram	New state was created				Independent	C. Chhunga
	Mysore		President's Rule			Indian National Congress (R)	D. Devaraj Urs
	Punjab		President's Rule			Indian National Congress (R)	Zail Singh
	Goa, Daman and Diu		Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	Dayanand Bandodkar		Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	Dayanand Bandodkar
17 June 1972	Jammu and Kashmir		Indian National Congress (R)	Syed Mir Qasim		Indian National Congress (R)	Syed Mir Qasim

Legislative Assembly elections

Assam

Main article: 1972 Assam Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	1,976,209	53.20	95	+22
	Samyukta Socialist Party	214,342	5.77	4	0
	Communist Party of India	209,550	5.64	3	–4
	Plain Tribals Council of Assam	62,108	1.67	1	New
	Swatantra Party	21,663	0.58	1	–2
	Others	125,928	3.39	0	0
	Independents	1,104,977	29.75	10	–16
Total		3,714,777	100.00	114	+9
Valid votes		3,714,777	96.47
Invalid/blank votes		136,122	3.53
Total votes		3,850,899	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,328,537	60.85
Source: ECI[1]

Andhra Pradesh

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	7,474,255	52.29	6.87%	219	54
	Communist Party of India	854,742	5.98	1.80%	7	4
	Swatantra Party	282,949	1.98	7.86%	2	27
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	454,038	3.18	4.43%	1	5
	Sampurna Telangana Praja Samithi	237,934	1.66	new party	1	new party
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	266,192	1.86	0.25%	0	3
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	45,303	0.32	new party	0	new party
	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	36,466	0.26	new party	0	new party
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	21,357	0.15	new party	0	new party
	Samyukta Socialist Party	9,952	0.07	0.29%	0
	Minorities League	3,582	0.03	new party	0	new party
	Backward Classes Mahasabha	910	0.01	new party	0	new party
	Independents	4,604,943	32.22	5.81%	57	11
Total		14,292,623	100.00	–	287
Valid votes		14,292,623	97.27
Invalid/blank votes		400,407	2.73
Total votes		14,693,030	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		24,607,903	59.71

Bihar

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	5,688,002	33.12	167
	Samyukta Socialist Party/Socialist Party	2,814,799	16.39	33
	Indian National Congress (O)	2,544,841	14.82	30
	Bharatiya Jan Sangh	2,007,314	11.69	25
	Communist Party of India	1,192,746	6.94	35
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	276,649	1.61	–
	Hindustani Shoshit Dal	219,341	1.28	3
	Swatantra Party	121,238	0.71	1
	All India Jharkhand Party	149,754	0.87	3
	Jharkhand	90,717	0.53	1
	Bihar Prant Hul Jharkhand	90,234	0.53	2
	Socialist Unity Centre of India	47,732	0.28	–
	Progressive Hull Jharkhand Party (Shibu Group)	32,631	0.19	1
	All India Forward Bloc	20,525	0.12	–
	Bharatiya Kranti Dal	5,609	0.03	–
	Indian Union Muslim League	5,317	0.03	–
	Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)	4,677	0.03	–
	Backward Classes Party of India	4,386	0.03	–
	All India Labour Party	3,859	0.02	–
	Revolutionary Socialist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)	2,968	0.02	–
	Chota Nagpur Bhumi Rakshak Party	1,274	0.01	–
	Republican Party of India	907	0.01	–
	Independent	1,849,613	10.77	17
Total		17,175,133	100.00	318
Valid votes		17,175,133	98.09
Invalid/blank votes		333,560	1.91
Total votes		17,508,693	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		33,164,286	52.79
Source:

Goa, Daman & Diu

Main article: 1972 Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly election

Summary of results of the Goa, Daman & Diu Legislative Assembly election, 1972^[2]

	Political Party	Seats contested	Seats won	Number of Votes	% of Votes	Seat change
	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party	23	18	116,855	38.30%	2
	United Goans Party (Superia Group)	26	10	99,156	32.50%	2
	Indian National Congress	19	1	41,612	13.64%	1
	Independents	36	1	28,874	9.64%	1
	Total	138	30	305,077

Gujarat

#	Party	Seats Contested	Seats Won	Forfeited Deposits	Popular Vote	Voting Percentage	Vote % In Seats Contested
1	BJS	100	3	69	643032	9.29%	15.03%
2	CPI	11	1	10	32439	0.47%	7.00%
3	CPM	4	0	4	15500	0.22%	9.57%
4	INC	168	140	1	3527035	50.93%	50.93%
5	NCO	138	16	29	1626736	23.49%	28.95%
6	SOP	15	0	12	50009	0.72%	9.11%
7	SWA	47	0	42	123589	1.78%	6.32%
8	RSP	1	0	0	8649	0.12%	22.33%
9	HMS	1	0	1	136	0.00%	0.35%
10	IND	337	8	299	897584	12.96%	15.54%

	Men	Women	Total
NO. OF ELECTORS	6370260	6137124	12507384
Votes	4020234	3246959	7267193
Percentage	63.11%	52.91%	58.10%
Valid votes	6924709
Invalid votes	342484
NO. OF POLLING STATIONS	17994
AVERAGE NO. OF ELECTORS PER POLLING STATION	695
	Men	Women	Total
NO. OF CONTESTANTS	852	21	873
ELECTED	167	1	168
FORFEITED DEPOSITS	0	0	0

Haryana

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	1,639,405	46.91	52
	Indian National Congress (Organization)	377,427	10.80	12
	Vishal Haryana Party	242,444	6.94	3
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	228,761	6.55	2
	Akhil Bhartiya Arya Sabha	77,234	2.21	1
	Communist Party of India	69,335	1.98	0
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	12,617	0.36	0
	Socialist Party	8,333	0.24	0
	Republican Party of India	7,467	0.21	0
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	3,636	0.10	0
	Socialist Unity Center of India	2,640	0.08	0
	Bharatiya Kranti Dal	1,486	0.04	0
	Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha	400	0.01	0
	Independents	823,611	23.57	11
Total		3,494,796	100.00	81
Valid votes		3,494,796	79.12
Invalid/blank votes		922,520	20.88
Total votes		4,417,316	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		5,091,082	86.77
Source: ECI

Himachal Pradesh

Main article: 1972 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	467,592	53.24	53	+19
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	68,032	7.75	5	New
	Lok Raj Party Himachal Pradesh	44,067	5.02	2	–9
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	9,654	1.10	1	–3
	Others	40,590	4.62	0	0
	Independents	248,310	28.27	7	–9
Total		878,245	100.00	68	+8
Valid votes		878,245	97.39
Invalid/blank votes		23,506	2.61
Total votes		901,751	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		1,805,448	49.95
Source: ECI[3]

Jammu and Kashmir

Main article: 1972 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	764,492	55.44	58	–3
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	135,778	9.85	3	0
	Jamaat-e-Islami Kashmir	98,985	7.18	5	New
	Others	10,689	0.78	0	0
	Independents	369,062	26.76	9	–6
Total		1,379,006	100.00	75	0
Valid votes		1,379,006	96.52
Invalid/blank votes		49,689	3.48
Total votes		1,428,695	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		2,297,951	62.17
Source: ECI[4]

Madhya Pradesh

#	Party	Seats Contested	Seats won	Seats Changed	% Votes
1	Indian National Congress	289	220	53	47.93%
1	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	260	48	30	28.64%
3	Samyukta Socialist Party/Socialist Party	172	7	N/A	6.24%
4	Communist Party of India	30	3	2	1.02%
7	Independent	296	18	4	14.73%
	Total		296

Maharashtra

Summary of results of the Maharashtra State Assembly election, 1972

	Political Party	No. of candidates	No. of elected	Seat change	Number of Votes	% of Votes	Change in vote %
	Indian National Congress 222 / 270 (82%)	271	222	19	8,535,832	56.36%	9.33%
	Peasants and Workers Party of India 7 / 270 (3%)	58	7	12	856,986	5.66%	2.14%
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh 5 / 270 (2%)	122	5	1	947,266	6.25%	1.92%
	Samyukta Socialist Party/Socialist Party 3 / 270 (1%)	52	3	1	693,797	4.58%	0.03%
	Republican Party of India 2 / 270 (0.7%)	118	2	3	570,533	3.77%	2.89%
	Communist Party of India 2 / 270 (0.7%)	44	2	8	412,857	2.73%	2.14%
	All India Forward Bloc 2 / 270 (0.7%)	26	2	2	363,547	2.40%	2.40% (New Party)
	Shiv Sena 1 / 270 (0.4%)	26	1	1	279,210	1.84%	1.84% (New Party)
	Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1 / 270 (0.4%)	20	1		117,134	0.77%	0.31%
	Bharatiya Kranti Dal 1 / 270 (0.4%)	2	1	1	31,508	0.21%	0.21% (New Party)
	Indian Union Muslim League 1 / 270 (0.4%)	1	1	1	27,138	0.18%	0.18% (New Party)
	Republican Party of India (Khobragade)	56	0	(New Party)	202,935	1.34%	1.34% (New Party)
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	49	0	(Split in INC)	162,433	1.07%	(Split in INC)
	Swatantra Party	5	0		14,269	0.09%	1.03%
	Independents 23 / 270 (9%)	343	23	7	1,920,667	12.68%	1.89%
	Total	1196	270		15,146,171	60.63%	4.21%

Manipur

Main article: 1972 Manipur Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	135,678	30.02	17	+1
	Manipur Peoples Party	91,148	20.17	15	New
	Communist Party of India	45,765	10.13	5	+4
	Socialist Party (India)	24,195	5.35	3	New
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	10,699	2.37	1	New
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	2,988	0.66	0	–
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	1,004	0.22	0	New
	Independents	140,471	31.08	19	+10
Total		451,948	100.00	60	+30
Valid votes		451,948	97.89
Invalid/blank votes		9,744	2.11
Total votes		461,692	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		608,403	75.89
Source: ECI[5]

Meghalaya

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	All Party Hill Leaders Conference (AHL)	73,851	35.67	32
	Indian National Congress (INC)	20,474	9.89	9
	Communist Party of India (CPI)	1,182	0.57	0
	Independents (IND)	111,506	53.86	19[a]
Total		207,013	100.00	60
Source: Election Commission of India[6]

Mizoram

Main article: 1972 Mizoram Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress	34,421	30.91	6
	Samyukta Socialist Party	1,713	1.54	0
	Independents	75,224	67.55	24
Total		111,358	100.00	30
Valid votes		111,358	97.35
Invalid/blank votes		3,028	2.65
Total votes		114,386	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		156,901	72.90
Source: ECI[7]

Mysore

Main article: 1972 Mysore Legislative Assembly election

Summary of results of the Mysore Legislative Assembly election, 1972

	Political Party	Contestants	Seats won	Seat change	Votes	Vote share	Net change
	Indian National Congress (Requisitionists)	212	165	39	4,698,824	52.17%	3.74%
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	176	24		2,361,308	26.22%	26.22%
	Communist Party of India	4	3		88,978	0.99%
	Samyukta Socialist Party	29	3	3	152,556	1.69%	0.78%
	Janata Paksha Party	2	1		14,390	0.16%
	Independents		20	21	1,159,383	12.87%
Total			216

Punjab

Main article: 1972 Punjab Legislative Assembly election

Result of Punjab Legislative Assembly Election 1972
	Party	Seats contested	Seats won	Change in seats	Popular vote	%
	Indian National Congress	89	66	28	20,83,390	42.84
	Shiromani Akali Dal	72	24	19	13,44,437	27.64
	Communist Party of India	13	10	6	3,16,722	6.51
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	17	1	1	1,58,309	3.26
	Independents	205	3	1	5,97,917	12.29
	Others	72	0	-	3,62,783	7.47
	Total	468	104		48,63,558

Rajasthan

Main article: 1972 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	3,976,157	51.13	145	+56
	Swatantra Party	958,097	12.32	11	–37
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	948,928	12.20	8	–14
	Socialist Party	189,851	2.44	4	New
	Communist Party of India	121,591	1.56	4	+3
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	104,398	1.34	1	New
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	74,514	0.96	0	0
	Vishal Haryana Party	50,229	0.65	0	New
	Republican Party of India	2,137	0.03	0	0
	Independents	1,350,012	17.36	11	–5
Total		7,775,914	100.00	184	0
Valid votes		7,775,914	96.77
Invalid/blank votes		259,313	3.23
Total votes		8,035,227	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		13,910,553	57.76
Source: ECI[8]

Tripura

Main article: 1972 Tripura Legislative Assembly election

Party	Seats Contested	Seats Won	No. of Votes	% of Votes	1967 Seats
Bharatiya Jana Sangh	3	0	345	0.07%	0
Communist Party of India	11	1	15,226	3.04%	1
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	57	16	189,667	37.82%	2
Indian National Congress	59	41	224,821	44.83%	27
All India Forward Bloc	9	0	5,739	1.14%	-
Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti	10	0	5,883	1.17%	-
Independents	85	2	59,792	11.92%	0
Total	234	60	501,473
Source: ECI[9]

West Bengal

Main article: 1972 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	6,543,251	49.08	216	–
	Communist Party of India	1,110,579	8.33	35	–
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	3,659,808	27.45	14	–
	Revolutionary Socialist Party	284,643	2.14	3	–
	Indian National Congress (Organisation)	196,044	1.47	2	–
	All India Gorkha League	35,802	0.27	2	–
	Socialist Unity Centre	238,276	1.79	1	–
	Indian Union Muslim League	121,208	0.91	1	–
	Workers Party of India	63,673	0.48	1	–
	Others	605,677	4.54	0	0
	Independents	472,556	3.54	5	–
Total		13,331,517	100.00	280	0
Valid votes		13,331,517	97.18
Invalid/blank votes		387,018	2.82
Total votes		13,718,535	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		22,554,545	60.82
Source: ECI[10]