The Kerala Legislative Assembly election of 1957 was the first assembly election in the Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. The Communist Party of India won the election with 60 seats. The election led to the formation of first democratically elected communist government in India.

State Reorganization

On 1 November 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Kerala was formed by the merger of Travancore-Cochin state with the

Malabar district Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...

(including Fort Cochin and the Laccadive Islands) of Madras State, Kasaragod taluk of the

South Canara South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas of ...

district and the Amindive Islands. The southern part of Travancore-Cochin, the five taluks of Agastheeswaram, Thovala, Kalkulam, Vilavahcode, and Shencotta, were transferred from Travancore-Cochin to the

Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...

. After the reorganization, the assembly constituencies increased from 106 with 117 seats in 1954 to 114 with 126 seats in 1957.

Background

Following the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the

Malabar District Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...

Madras state Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...

merged with Travancore-Cochin to form the new state of Kerala on 1 November 1956. The merger helped the Communist Party of India to increase their base in the region. The ruling

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

lost the prominence due to the factionalism within the party. Furthermore,

communalism Communalism may refer to: * Communalism (Bookchin), a theory of government in which autonomous communities form confederations * , a historical method that follows the development of communities * Communalism (South Asia), violence across ethnic ...

and struggles against

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

played a major role.

Election

The Election Commission of India conducted elections to the newly created state between 28 February – 11 March 1957. The elections were held to the 126 seats (114 constituencies) including 12 two member constituencies of which 11 and one

reserved Reserved is a Polish apparel retailer headquartered in Gdańsk, Pomerania, Poland. It was founded in 1999 and remains the largest company of the LPP group, which has more than 1,700 retail stores located in over 20 countries and also owns such ...

for

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

respectively, in which 406 candidates were contested. The voter turnout was 65.49%.

Results

The result of the elections listed below:

, - style="background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center;" ! class="unsortable" , ! Political party !! Flag !! Seats
Contested !! Won !! % of
Seats ! Votes !! Vote % !! Vote % in
contested seats , - , , style="text-align:center;" ,

, 124 , , 43 , , 34.13 , , 2,209,251 , , 37.85 , , 38.1 , - style="background: #90EE90;" , , style="text-align:center;" , Communist Party of India ,

, 101 , , 60 , , 47.62 , , 2,059,547 , , 35.28 , , 40.57 , - , , style="text-align:center;" , Praja Socialist Party , , 65 , , 9 , , 7.14 , , 628,261 , , 10.76 , , 17.48 , - , , style="text-align:center;" , Revolutionary Socialist Party , , 28 , , 0 , , , , 188,553 , , 3.23 , , 11.12 , - , , , 86 , , 14 , , 11.11 , , 751,965 , , 12.88 , , N/A , - class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! colspan = 2, ! style="text-align:center;" , Total seats !! 126 !! style="text-align:center;" , Voters !! 89,13,247 !! style="text-align:center;" , Turnout !! colspan = 3, 58,37,577 (65.49%)

In the election, five women candidates were elected out of nine candidates.

By Constituency

Government formation

Communist Party of India formed the government with the support of five independents. On 5 April 1957, E. M. S. Namboodiripad became the chief minister of Kerala and first non–Congress chief minister of the country (PSP ruled Travencore Cochin state before). But the government was dismissed in 1959 by the central government following the

Liberation Struggle The Liberation Struggle in Kerala (1958–59) was a period of anticommunist protest against the first elected state government in Kerala, India, which was led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad of the Communist Party of India. Organised opposition to ...

References

{{Kerala Niyamasabha elections 1957 1957