1967 Bihar Legislative Assembly election

1967 Bihar Legislative Assembly election

← 1962 21 February 1967 1969 →
All 318 seats in the Bihar Legislative Assembly 160 seats needed for a majority
Registered	27,743,190
Turnout	51.51%
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party INC SSP ABJS Seats before 185 New 3 Seats won 128 68 26 Seat change 57 New 23 Popular vote 33.09% 17.62 10.42
CM before election K. B. Sahay INC Elected CM Mahamaya Prasad Sinha Jana Kranti Dal

Elections to the Bihar Legislative Assembly were held in February 1967, to elect members of the 318 constituencies in Bihar, India. The Indian National Congress won the most seats as well as the popular vote, but Mahamaya Prasad Sinha of the Jana Kranti Dal was appointed as the Chief Minister of Bihar.^[1] No single party had won a majority of seats,^[2]

Parties like Samyukt Socialist Party, Jan Sangh, CPI, Jan Kranti Dal and Praja Socialist together formed the government. Although the second largest party after Congress was the Samyukt Socialist Party and its leader Karpoori Thakur had a stake in the post of Chief Minister, but other parties were not ready.In such a situation, all the parties agreed on the name of Mahamaya Prasad Sinha of Jan Kranti Dal(of Kamakhya Narain Singh), who became the Chief Minister of Bihar in March 1967, while Karpoori Thakur became the Deputy Chief Minister. However, the government couldn't last even for a year.^[3]

Opposition to the caste composition of the ministry led to some members of the samyukt socialist party, provoked by Health minister BP Mandal(who was forced to resign by Ram Manohar Lohia), join hands with the congress to form new government headed by first backward chief minister BP Mandal, which lasted just 50 days.^[4]

However, there was a tussle going on within the Congress on the issue of supporting the Mandal government. Angered by this decision of the party, 17 MLAs rebelled under the leadership of former Chief Minister Binodanand Jha, leader of the anti-KB Sahay group. Formed a separate faction in the name of Loktrantik Congress and withdrew support from the Mandal government. Only one month old BP Mandal government had to resign and in the new manipulation, MLA of this Loktrantik Congress camp, Bhola Paswan Shastri became first Dalit chief minister with the help of opposition MLAs. Even his ministry lasted for just 4 months^[4]

The weakening of previously dominant congress party, rising aspirations of backward classes(forward-backward tussle) and individual greed of leaders was the main reasons for these short lived govertments.^[5]

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Indian National Congress	4,479,460	33.09	128	57
	Samyukta Socialist Party	2,385,961	17.62	68	New
	Bharatiya Jana Sangh	1,410,722	10.42	26	23
	Praja Socialist Party	942,889	6.96	18	11
	Communist Party of India	935,977	6.91	24	12
	Jan Kranti Dal	451,412	3.33	13	New
	Swatantra Party	315,184	2.33	3	47
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	173,656	1.28	4	New
	Republican Party of India	23,893	0.18	1	New
	Independents	2,419,469	17.87	33	21
Total		13,538,623	100.00	318	0
Valid votes		13,538,623	73.37
Invalid/blank votes		4,914,436	26.63
Total votes		18,453,059	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		27,743,190	66.51
Source: ECI[6]

• List of constituencies of the Bihar Legislative Assembly
• 1967 elections in India