The Kerala Legislative Assembly election of 1960 was the second 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 elections were held on 1 February 1960.

Background

In the 1957 elections in Kerala, the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

formed the government with the support of five independents. But in 1959, the

Central Government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

dismissed the democratically elected government through the controversial

Article 356 In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...

of the

Indian Constitution The Constitution of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental r ...

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 ...

", even though the elected communist government was enjoying majority support within the legislature. After a short period of the

President's rule In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...

, fresh elections were called in 1960.

Constituencies

There were 114 legislative assembly constituencies in the

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 28 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 c ...

, 1957. Out of these 102 were single-member constituencies while the number of double-member constituencies was 12. One constituency was reserved for Schedule Caste. There were 64,77,665 electors in single-member constituencies, while in double-member constituencies there were 15,63,333 electors. Total 312 candidates contested for the 126 seats of the 114 constituencies in the Assembly. Poll percentage was 85.72%, an increase of 20.23% from 65.49% in 1957 assembly elections.

Political parties

Four national parties,

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 ...

Praja Socialist Party The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party. It was founded when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the Kisan Mazdoo ...

and

Bharatiya Jana Sangha The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) ( ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the po ...

along with the state party

Muslim League Muslim League may refer to: Political parties Subcontinent ; British India *All-India Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinah, led the demand for the partition of India resulting in the creation of Pakistan. **Punjab Muslim League, a branch of the organ ...

took part in the assembly election. In these elections, the Indian National Congress, Praja Socialist Party, and Indian Union Muslim League formed a pre-poll alliance to counter the

. Together they fielded 125 candidates and supported an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate, while the Communist Party of India fielded 108 candidates and gave party support to 16 independents.

Results

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

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...

, , 3 , , 0 , , New , , 0 , , 5,277 , , 0.07 , , New , , 3.28 , - , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 108 , , 29 , , 31 , , 23.02 , , 3,171,732 , , 39.14 , , 3.86 , , 43.79 , - style="background: #90EE90;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 80 , , 63 , , 20 , , 50.00 , , 2,789,556 , , 34.42 , , 3.43 , , 45.37 , - style="background: #90EE90;" , , style="text-align:left;" ,

, , 33 , , 20 , , 11 , , 15.87 , , 1,146,028 , , 14.14 , , 3.38 , , 38.41 , - , , , 12 , , 11 , , ''New'' , , 8.73 , , 401,925 , , 4.96 , , ''New'' , , 47.79 , - , , , 61 , , 5 , , 11 , , 4.17 , , 488,699 , , 5.93 , , -5.61 , , 13.96 , - class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! colspan = 3, ! style="text-align:center;" , Total Seats !! 126 ( 0) !! style="text-align:center;" , Voters !! 9,604,331 !! style="text-align:center;" , Turnout !! colspan = 3, 8,232,572 (85.72%)

By constituency

Government formation

Congress and Praja Socialist Party alliance got the majority in the election and hence formed the government.

Pattom A. Thanu Pillai Raja Shri Pattom A. Thanu Pillai (15 July 188527 July 1970) was a participant in the Indian independence movement who later served as the chief minister of Kerala from 22 February 1960 to 25 September 1962. He was known as the 'Bhishmacharya' o ...

of the Praja Socialist Party became the chief minister and R. Sankar of the Indian National Congress became the deputy chief minister on 22 February 1960, with eleven council ministers. Pattam A. Thanu Pillai resigned on 26 September 1962 after he was appointed as the Governor of Punjab and R. Sankar became the first Congress Chief Minister of Kerala.

References

{{Kerala Niyamasabha elections

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...