The

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

in 2012 were scheduled for seven

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislativ ...

s and several local elections were also conducted. The 14th presidential election to elect the 13th president of the republic was also held in 2012. The tenure of the legislative assemblies of

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to th ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peak ...

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a States and territories of India, state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in the North India, northern part of India. It is often referred to as t ...

were to expire during the year. The

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, dir ...

issued the dates for the elections in Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa to take place in the first quarter of the year. Whereas the elections were held in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat in the last quarter of the year. In the first rounds of elections, Manipur and Punjab resulted in an incumbent government victory; while in Uttar Pradesh and Goa there was a heavy anti-incumbent victory; and Uttarakhand resulted in a

hung assembly A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legi ...

with an anti-incumbent plurality and in the second round, in Himachal Pradesh,

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

led by incumbent Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal lost due to a huge anti-incumbency wave arising mainly out of corruption and lack of good governance. Congress veteran leader Virbhadra Singh took oath for record sixth term as next Chief Minister. In the western state of

incumbent Chief Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

, in power since 2002, was running for his fourth term. Elections, held in two phases, reverted

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

(BJP), in power in Gujarat since 1995, with 119 seat out of 182.

Presidential election

The 14th indirect presidential election, in order to elect the 13th

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

, was held in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

on 19 July 2012. On 22 July,

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

was declared the winner. Mukheree gained 373,116 MP votes and 340,647 MLA votes for a total of 713,763 votes to win the election. He defeated

P. A. Sangma Purno Agitok Sangma (1 September 1947 – 4 March 2016) was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. He was the candidate for the 2012 Indian presidentia ...

, who got 145,848 MP votes and 170,139 MLA votes for a total of 315,987 votes. Mukherjee's win was aided by cross-voting.

Legislative Assembly elections

Goa

The

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 ...

has been governing

since 2005 with coalition partners, despite a controversial

vote of confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

. It will go to the election with its ally, the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

, under Chief Minister

Digambar Kamat Digambar Kamat (born 8 March 1954) is an Indian politician. He was the Chief Minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012. Manohar Parikar succeeded him after his term as the Chief Minister of Goa. From 2006 to 2019, he was the president of Swimming Fed ...

. The main opposition BJP will go to the election under the leadership of former Chief Minister

Manohar Parrikar Manohar Parrikar (born Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar; 13 December 1955 – 17 March 2019) was an Indian politician and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party who served as Chief Minister of Goa from 14 March 2017 until his death. Previous ...

. Corruption over mining is expected to be an issue in the election, as well as the BJP's attempts to reach out to Catholic voters. The election took place on 3 March. The result was announced on 6 March. The BJP emerged as the largest party and along with its coalition partner, the MGP, is set to form the next government.

is poised to be the chief ministerial candidate.

Manipur

Okram Ibobi Singh Okram Ibobi Singh (born 19 June 1948) is an Indian Politician who was the Chief Minister of Manipur from 2002 to 2017. In 2012, he helped his party win the state election for the third time with an absolute majority securing 42 out of the tota ...

of the Indian National Congress has led Manipur for two consecutive full terms. The main opposition consists of the Manipur People's Party, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party and Janata Dal – United. There are 60 constituencies for which 2,357 polling stations are to be set up. In a total electorate of 17,40,820 people; 8,51,323 are men and 8,89,497 are women. The major issues are territorial integrity (which ensues from the entry of the

Nagaland People's Front The Naga People's Front (NPF) is a regional political party in Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh . It headed the Nagaland government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, as part of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland from 2003 to 2018. NPF ...

(the ruling party in neighbouring

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the ...

) into the electoral politics of Manipur), the road blockades of National Highways 39 and 53 and the role of insurgents. The election took place on 28 January. The result was announced on 6 March.Election Commission of India. Press note
24 December 2011 as shown below:

Punjab

Punjab forms the northwest part of India. Its capital is Chandigarh, which is a Union territory and also a capital of Haryana. In the political scenario, Punjab has three main parties divided into two factions, NDA and Congress. The NDA part consists of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), while UPA is dominated mainly by the Congress. The SAD consists of several break-away factions of what once was a unified Akali Dal. BJP has mainly played a supporting role, mainly trying to consolidate the Hindu votes in favour of the alliance. Congress had an upper hand in the 2002 assembly elections, but SAD+BJP combine bounced back quite easily in the 2007 polls. Punjab Elections 2012 Date: The state will go to polls in a single phase on 30 Jan 2012 and Punjab election results will be declared on 4 March 2012. Punjab has traditionally voted

anti-incumbency Anti-incumbency is sentiment in favor of voting out incumbent politicians. It is sometimes referred to as a "throw the bums out" sentiment. Periods of anti-incumbent sentiment are typically characterized by wave elections. This sentiment can also l ...

in assembly elections. The incumbent government is an alliance of the

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Akali Party'') is a centre-right sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are man ...

and the Bharatiya Janta Party under Chief Minister

Parkash Singh Badal Parkash Singh Badal ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ ਸਿੰਘ ਬਾਦਲ; born 8 December 1927) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab state from 1970 to 1971, from 1977 to 1980, from 1997 to 2002, and from 2007 to 2017. He i ...

. The opposition Indian National Congress contested the election under the leadership of former Chief Minister Captain

Amarinder Singh Captain Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942), is an Indian politician, military historian, former royal and Indian Army veteran who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. A former Member of the Legislative Assembly, Punjab and Member ...

. The governance of the ruling coalition was the main election issue, besides the issue of the potential succession of the chief minister's son,

Sukhbir Singh Badal Sukhbir Singh Badal (born 9 July 1962) is an Indian politician and the president of Shiromani Akali Dal, and is currently a member of Parliament from the Firozpur. He served as Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab from 2009 to 2017. He is the son of ...

. A new entrant was the front Sanjha Morcha which consists of the newly formed

People's Party of Punjab The People's Party of Punjab (PPP) was a Punjab-based Indian political party, founded by Manpreet Singh Badal in March 2011. After disagreements with the Chief Minister and his uncle Parkash Singh Badal, Manpreet resigned from the position of F ...

(PPP) led by former finance minister

Manpreet Singh Badal Manpreet Singh Badal (born 26 July 1962) is an Indian politician and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the former Finance Minister of Punjab. He resigned from Indian National Congress on 18th January,2023 & joined BJP same day. He ha ...

. The Sanjha Morcha consists of the PPP, the Communist Party of India, the

Communist Party of India - Marxist The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the n ...

and the Akali Dal (Longowal). The election took place on 30 January, with the result announced on 6 March. The result is shown below:

Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand has turned out incumbent governments in the two elections held since its creation. The Bharatiya Janata Party fought the election under the leadership of its Chief Minister

Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri Major General Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri (Retd.), AVSM, (born 1 October 1934) is an Indian politician. He was Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2007 to 2009 and 2011 to 2012. He was a Member of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha representing the ...

. The main opposition Indian National Congress was led in the assembly by

Harak Singh Rawat Dr. Harak Singh Rawat (born 15 December 1960) is a prominent political leader of the Uttarakhand state in India. He is a member of Indian National Congress after being expelled from the BJP in 2022. After joining Congress he negotiated an MLA ...

, but no Chief Ministerial candidate has been proposed. The interim tenure of former Chief Minister

Ramesh Pokhriyal Ramesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" (born 15 July 1959), is an Indian politician who was appointed on 31 May 2019 to serve as Minister of Human Resource Development and as of July 2020, following the ministry's name change, his title was changed to Min ...

, which was marked by large-scale corruption accusations, was likely to be the main election issue. The election took place on 30 January, with the result announced on 6 March. The INC's

Vijay Bahuguna Vijay Bahuguna (born 28 February 1947) is an Indian politician who served as the 6th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He is the eldest son of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, an independence activist and politician, and also a former Chief Minister of ...

was appointed CM despite not having won a vote to be the party's leader in the legislative assembly. This came under criticism over corruption and caste as 24 of the 32 MLAs boycotted the swearing-in in support of the

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

candidate

Harish Rawat Harish Singh Rawat (born 27 April 1948) is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Uttarakhand from 2014 to 2017. A five-time Member of Parliament, Rawat is a leader of the Indian National Congress party. As a member of 15th Lok Sabh ...

(whose caste is now a majority in Uttarakhand) as opposed to the

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers ( ...

CM. Rawat also had the support of the outgoing leader of the opposition

. The detailed result is given below: Notably the incumbent CM B. C. Khanduri lost his seat.
Vijay Bahuguna Won Bye-Election held on 8 July from

Sitarganj Sitarganj is a city and a municipal board in Udham Singh Nagar district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Now it is home to the Integrated Industrial Estate Sitarganj (IIE) being developed by State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakh ...

seat vacated due to resignation of BJP MLA Kiran Mandal.
Thus Increasing Congress Seats to 33
And Reducing BJP strength to 30

Uttar Pradesh

Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social chan ...

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is a national level political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), a ...

completed its first full-term; however, it came under criticism for corruption and publicity for the erection of statues and parks in honour of its chief minister. In the run-up to the election, the BSP fired some ministers and denied re-election to sitting legislators to avoid the corruption stigma. Another important issue was the proposed division into four smaller provinces to which the primary opposition party, the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as well. With ...

, is opposed.BBC News - India: Uttar Pradesh assembly backs state division
Bbc.co.uk (21 November 2011). Retrieved on 6 January 2012. The election was conducted in seven phases on 8, 11, 15, 19, 23, 28 February and 3 March. Voter turnout was nearly 59.5% voters exercising their franchise. The result was announced 6 March 2012, with

Akhilesh Yadav Akhilesh is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Akhilesh Das (1961–2017), educationist, professor, Indian politician and philanthropist *Akhilesh K. Gaharwar (born 1982), Indian academic and Professor at Texas A&M University *Akh ...

being the Chief Minister-designate of UP. The detailed result is shown below:

Gujarat

Polls in Gujarat took place in two phases: First phase on 13 December 2012 and second phase on 17 December 2012. The counting was held on 20 December 2012. The BJP have held a majority in the state since 1995 and went to the election under the leadership of Chief Minister

. The Indian National Congress was the main opposition, but did not specified a chief ministerial candidate. Counting of votes completed on 20 December 2012 before evening which started from 8.00am across the Gujarat State at specified location in every district. Results of the election are as following: Total Seats: 182
Results declared: 182 The BJP lost in 16 contests by a margin of less than 2%.. The Congress won 46% seats with a margin of less than 5%.

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh has 68 assembly seats, with 17 reserved for SCs and 3 for ST.

Local elections

Municipal elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

were held in various cities across Maharashtra on 16 February. In different cities elections results were mixed by party. The capital, Mumbai, resulted in a plurality for the Shiv Sena and the second largest city of Pune resulted in a Nationalist Congress Party plurality.

References

External links

Election Commission of India
{{Legislatures of India 2012 elections in India

2012 in India Elections in India by year