Calcutta South East (Lok Sabha constituency)

Calcutta South East was a constituency of the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament of India), located in the city of Calcutta, West Bengal. It was used in the parliamentary election of 1951–1952 as well as in a 1953 by-election.[1][2] The constituency elected a single member of the Lok Sabha.[3] As of 1952, the constituency had 381,486 eligible voters.[3]

Calcutta South East
Former Lok Sabha Constituency
Constituency Details
Established1951
Abolished1957
ReservationNone
StateWest Bengal
Total Electors381,486

Political dynamics

At the time, south-east Calcutta was viewed as the political nerve-centre of Calcutta, a city known for its vivid political life.[4] Calcutta South-East had a predominately middle class character.[4] Whilst most of the assembly segments of Calcutta South East elected Indian National Congress legislators in the 1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, the constituency was politically diverse.[4] With a Bharatiya Jan Sangh MP, there was also a significant communist presence (at least two communist legislators elected from the area).[4] The area of the constituency belonged to the areas that had elected Sarat Chandra Bose (Netaji Subash Chandra Bose's brother) against a Congress candidate.[4]

1952 election

In the first elections after the independence of India, four candidates were in the fray in Calcutta South East: Mriganka Mohan Sur of the Indian National Congress, Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, Sadhan Gupta of the Communist Party of India and Satya Ranjan Bakshi of the Forward Bloc-National Synthesis.[5][6] The result for the Calcutta South East seat was announced on February 3, 1952.[6] Mukherjee won the seat with 65,026 votes (44.97%), Sur got 44,044 (30.46%), Gupta 32,168 (22.24%) and Bakshi 3,376 (2.33%).[5]

1953 by-election

Mukherjee, a right-wing nationalist hardliner on the Kashmir conflict, had been detained in June 1953 whilst trying to enter Kashmir.[7] Whilst detained he suffered a heart attack and died.[7] A by-election was called in fill the vacancy created by Mukherjee's death.[8] Due to the dramatic circumstances of Mukherjee's death and the complexity of the Calcutta politics (whilst the constituency was seen as a Congress stronghold it had also elected a Bharatiya Jan Sangh MP as well as communist members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly) the by-poll caught attention in national politics.[4][7]

The by-election was won by Gupta (CPI) with 58,211 votes (58.21%), Radhabinod Pal finished in second place with 36,319 votes (36.31%), J.P. Mitter (BJS) 5,431 (5.43%) and Bhupal Bose of the Forward Bloc (Marxist Group) got 5,415 votes (5.41%).[2][9]

The constituency was abolished ahead of the 1957 parliamentary election.[1] Sadhan Gupta contested and won the new Calcutta East constituency.[1][10]

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References
  1. David Butler; Ashok Lahiri; Prannoy Roy (1991). India Decides: Elections 1952–1991. Living Media India. pp. 358–359.
  2. Election Commission of India. Bye-election results 1952–95
  3. Election Commission of India. CONSTITUENCY DATA – SUMMARY
  4. The Economic Weekly. South-east Calcutta
  5. Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1951 TO THE FIRST LOK SABHA Archived 2014-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
  6. S. C. Das (1 January 2000). Bharat Kesri Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee with Modern Implications. Abhinav Publications. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-81-7017-387-8.
  7. Nariaki Nakazato (27 April 2016). Neonationalist Mythology in Postwar Japan: Pal's Dissenting Judgment at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 107–108. ISBN 978-1-4985-2836-8.
  8. The Hindu. Veteran Leftist Sadhan Gupta passes away
  9. Ramananda Chatterjee (July 1953). The Modern Review. 94. Prabasi Press Private, Limited. p. 421.
  10. The Statesman. Veteran Communist Sadhan Gupta dies
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