Legislative Assembly elections were held in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

in 1987. The election was mainly a clash between the Left Front led by Chief Minister

Jyoti Basu Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010) was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest ...

and the Indian National Congress(I) led by Prime Minister

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

. The former held the state government and the latter the national government. The election was won by the Left Front, for the third time in a row.

Contestants

Left Front

The governing Left Front denied tickets to 62 sitting legislators. In many cases CPI(M), the dominant force in the Left Front, was seeking to rejuvenate the legislature and fielded 35 student leaders as new candidates. The star campaigner of the Left Front was Chief Minister Jyoti Basu of CPI(M), who had pledged to visit all constituencies where CPI(M) had fielded candidates. During the campaign Basu claimed that the Delhi government discriminated against West Bengal in allocation of resources.

Congress(I)

'Natun Bangla' ('New Bengal') was the key slogan of the Congress(I) campaign. The star campaigner of Congress(I) was Prime Minister

, who was flown in from Delhi and toured the state.''India Today''.
West Bengal: Basu vs Gandhi
' At the time Gandhi enjoyed significant popularity, especially amongst urban upper-middle class sectors. Gandhi was accompanied by West Bengal Congress(I) chief

Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi (''Prio Rônjon Dashmunshi''; 13 November 1945 – 20 November 2017) was an Indian National Congress politician, former Union Minister and a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Raiganj constituency o ...

on the campaign trail. Striking a populist tone in midst of

deindustrialisation Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpr ...

in the state caused by militant activism of Communist labour unions, Gandhi promised development in West Bengal and to create a million new jobs. The Congress(I) campaign, whilst being boosted by Gandhi, suffered from internal dissent in party ranks. The state Congress cadre were divided into the pro-Rajiv Gandhi camp, led by A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury and the anti-Rajiv Gandhi camp led by

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

, who saw not Rajiv but himself as the bonafide successor of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

's political legacy. Feeling sidelined by Rajiv, who dropped him from the Union Cabinet after the 1984 general elections, Mukherjee broke away from the Congress (Indira) in 1986 to found his own party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress. In protest of Mukherjee's exit, his supporters within the Congress(I), notably

Subrata Mukherjee Subrata Mukherjee (14 June 1946 – 4 November 2021) was an Indian politician who was cabinet minister of the government of West Bengal and sitting member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. He was a member of All India Trinamool Congress. H ...

& Somen Mitra refused to co-operate with the top leadership.

Gorkhaland issue

Whilst an accord had been struck between Gandhi and

Gorkha National Liberation Front Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India. Early history Part of t ...

leader Subhash Ghisingh ahead of the polls, violence escalated in the Darjeeling hills. In the run-up to the polls, several policemen were killed in the area.

Seat Allotment

Results

The Left Front won 251 out of 294 seats. It obtained 13,918,403 votes (52.96% of the statewide vote).Election Commission of India.
STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1987 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
' It was the last time till date that the Indian National Congress contested without being in any alliance in West Bengal's state elections.

Elected members

Notes

References

External links

West Bengal General Legislative Election Results
at the ''

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

'' {{West Bengal assembly elections

State Assembly elections in West Bengal 1980s in West Bengal