Legislative Assembly elections was held in the Indian state of West Bengal on 14 June 1977. The polls took place after the ousting of Indira Gandhi's government at the Centre.
The Left Front won a landslide victory. The 1977 election marked the beginning of the 34-year Left Front rule in West Bengal, with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Jyoti Basu leading the first Left Front cabinet. The election finally put to rest, the decade-long political instability that had begun since 1967.
Background After the Janata Party won the national parliamentary election in March 1977 the new government in Delhi opted to dissolve the assemblies in nine states where the Indian National Congress (R) had lost the parliamentary polls and call for fresh elections. West Bengal was one of these states. The Congress(R) opposed the dissolution of the assemblies, the incumbent West Bengal Congress(R) government petitioned the Supreme Court of India. The Supreme Court rejected the petition on 30 April 1977 and the West Bengal assembly was dissolved on order from the acting president B.D. Jatti.
Ahead of the March 1977 parliamentary election the Left Front (a new alliance led by the CPI(M) consisting of RSP, AIFB, MFB, RCPI & Biplobi Bangla Congress) and the Janata Party had contested with a seat-sharing agreement. With the assembly elections approaching, the two sides sought to build a seat-sharing agreement. But the negotiation turned fruitless, and the Left Front and Janata Party parted ways. The Left Front had offered the Janata Party 56% of the seats and the post as Chief Minister to Janata Party leader Prafulla Chandra Sen, but the Janata Party insisted on 70% of the seats.The Wire. Why Has Nobody Called It Yet? An Analysis of the West Bengal Elections
There were 25,984,474 eligible voters, voter turn-out stood at 56.15%.
Campaign In most areas the West Bengal assembly election saw a triangular contest between the Left Front, the Congress(R) and the Janata Party for the 294 seats across the constituency. The Left Front fielded 293 candidates; CPI(M) contested 224 seats, the All India Forward Bloc 36, the Revolutionary Socialist Party 23, the Marxist Forward Bloc 3, the Revolutionary Communist Party of India 4, the Biplobi Bangla Congress 2 and 1 Left Front supported independent. Congress(R) contested 290 seats and Janata Party 289 seats. Left Front heavily campaigned on the massive-rigging perpetrated by the Congress(R) in the previous state election, state-sponsored anti-Communist violence & Emergency-era abuses perpetrated by the government of Siddharta Shankar Ray, with its slogan being কংগ্রেসের কালো হাত ভেঙ্গে দাও, গুড়িয়ে দাও (Break off & smash the black hand of the Congress in Bengali).
Seat Allotment
Party Flag Symbol Leader Contesting Seats Communist Party of India (Marxist) Jyoti Basu 224 227 Biplobi Bangla Congress 2 Independent 1 All India Forward Bloc R. K. Haldulkar 36 Revolutionary Socialist Party Tridib Chaudhuri 23 Revolutionary Communist Party of India Bimalananda Mukherjee 4 Marxist Forward Bloc Pratim Chatterjee 3 Total 293
Party Flag Symbol Leader Contesting Seats Indian National Congress (R) Purabi Mukhopadhyay 290 Total 290
Party Flag Symbol Leader Contesting Seats Janata Party Prafulla Chandra Sen 289 Total 289
Results The Left Front won the election, winning 231 out of the 294 seats.New Left Review. RED BENGAL’S RISE AND FALLElection Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1977 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL The electoral result came as a surprise to the Left Front itself, as it had offered 52% of the seats in the pre-electoral seat sharing talks with the Janata Party.People's Democracy. West Bengal: How The Left Front And Its Government Emerged On 21 June 1977 the Left Front formed a government with Jyoti Basu as its Chief Minister.People's Democracy. Thirty Years of Left Front Government in West Bengal The first cabinet meeting of the Left Front government ordered the release of political prisoners.Hindustan Times. Timeline of Left Front government in West Bengal
Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) leader Santosh Rana was elected as an independent from Gopiballavpur.Times of India. CPI(ML) MLA Santosh Rana quits party
PartyCandidatesSeatsVotes%Left FrontCommunist Party of India (Marxist)2241785,080,82835.46All India Forward Bloc3625750,2295.24Revolutionary Socialist Party2320536,6253.74Revolutionary Communist Party of India4375,1560.52Marxist Forward Bloc3358,4660.41Biplobi Bangla Congress2135,4570.25LF independent1132,2380.22Janata Party289292,869,39120.02Indian National Congress (R)290203,298,06323.02Communist Party of India632375,5602.62Socialist Unity Centre of India294211,7521.48Indian Union Muslim League32154,9420.38Workers Party of India2129,2210.20Jharkhand Party205,7010.04Republican Party of India301,6520.01All India Gorkha League208100.01Bharater Biplobi Communist Party104890.00Independents5667912,6126.37Total1,57229414,329,201100Source: ECI
Elected members