1967 Kerala Legislative Assembly election

The Kerala Legislative Assembly election of 1967 was the fourth assembly election in the Indian state of Kerala.[1] [2]

1967 Kerala Legislative Assembly election
1967
All 133 seats in the Kerala Legislative Assembly
67 seats needed for a majority
Turnout75.67%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader E. M. S. Namboodiripad M. N. Govindan Nair
Party CPI (M) CPI SSP
Alliance United Front (Saptakakshi Munnani) United Front (Saptakakshi Munnani) United Front (Saptakakshi Munnani)
Leader's seat Chadayamangalam
Last election 40 3 13
Seats won 52 19 19
Seat change 12 16 6
Popular vote 1,476,456 538,004 527,662
Percentage 23.51% 8.57% 14.29%
Swing 3.64% 0.27% 0.27%
Chief Minister before election

Vacant
President's Rule

 Chief Minister

E. M. S. Namboodiripad
CPI (M)

Background

In the 1965 elections, no party was able to form a government in Kerala. No viable coalition took shape, and Kerala went back to President Rule for another 2 years.

Kerala again went back to the polls in 1967. Both communist parties - CPI (M) and CPI - along with smaller parties including SSP and Muslim League contested this election as a United Front. A total of seven parties contested in the front, and the front was known as Saptakakshi Munnani. Congress and Kerala Congress contested separately. Total polling percentage was 75.67%.

Constituencies

There were 133 constituencies in total, out of which 120 were General Category, 11 Scheduled Castes and 2 Scheduled Tribe seats.

Political parties

The national parties contested were Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Indian National Congress, Praja Socialist Party, Sanghata Socialist Party and Swatantra Party along with the state parties Indian Union Muslim League and Kerala Congress.

Results
 Summary of results of the 1967 Kerala Legislative Assembly election [3] [4]
Political PartyFlagSeats
Contested		WonNet Change
in seats		% of
Seats		 VotesVote %Change in
vote %
Bharatiya Jana Sangh 220NA055,5840.88NA
Communist Party of India 2219 1614.29538,0048.57 0.27
Communist Party of India (Marxist) 5952 1239.101,476,45623.51 3.64
Indian National Congress 1339 276.772,789,55635.43 1.88
Praja Socialist Party 70NA013,9910.22NA
Samyukta Socialist Party 2119614.29527,6628.4 0.27
Swatantra Party 60NA14.2913,1050.21NA
Kerala Congress 615 13.76475,1727.57 5.01
IUML 1514 810.53424,1596.75 2.92
Independent 7515 311.28531,7838.47 5.27
Total Seats133 ( 0)Voters8,613,658Turnout6,518,272 (75.67 %)

Government formation

The United Front performed spectacularly swept most of the seats. Congress and Kerala Congress were decimated with 9 and 5 seats respectively. E M S became the Chief Minister for the second time. Second E. M. S. Namboodiripad Ministry had 14 members. For the first time in Kerala's history, the cabinet also included members from Muslim League. K. Karunakaran became the opposition leader in the assembly.

Fall of EMS Government

CPI (M) and CPI continued to have suspicions with each other. Due to the alleged high-handedness of CPI (M) in governance, most smaller parties were unsatisfied. This period also was marked with series of student strikes and police firings. CPI, SSP & Muslim League eventually became a group within the front, and worked together. Many ministers from the smaller parties resigned eventually, and many parties subsequently left the front. On 24 October 1969, EMS submitted resignation owing to the loss of majority in the assembly.

Achutha Menon Ministry

Within a week of resignation of E M S Namboothiripad, M N Govindan Nair of CPI informed the Governor that their party was ready to form an alternate government. CPI formed a government with outside support from Congress. C. Achutha Menon became the Chief Minister of Kerala on 1969, 1 November. The First Achutha Menon Ministry had 8 members.

See also

References
  1. "History of Kerala Legislature". Kerala Government. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  2. http://www.ceo.kerala.gov.in/pdf/KLA/KL_1965_ST_REP.pdf
  3. http://www.ceo.kerala.gov.in/pdf/KLA/KL_1967_ST_REP.pdf
  4. Thomas Johnson Nossiter (1 January 1982). Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation. University of California Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-520-04667-2.
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