1972 Punjab Assembly election

Who: The Congress, led in Punjab by Giani Zail Singh; its ally the Communist Party of India; the Akali Dal, which fought alone; the Jana Sangh; and the voters of Punjab, at the height of Indira Gandhi's prestige after the war of 1971.

What: The election for the 104 seats of the Assembly was held in March 1972, after President's rule that began on 13 June 1971. Turnout was 68.63 per cent, according to Wikipedia's table of the Election Commission's figures. The Congress won 66 seats with 42.84 per cent of the votes, the Akali Dal 24 with 27.64 per cent, the CPI 10, the CPI(M) 1 and independents 3. The Jana Sangh won no seat and polled about 5 per cent, according to Grewal. Khushwant Singh writes that the Akalis were split into warring factions, that Master Tara Singh was dead and Sant Fateh Singh discredited, and that the election shattered the Akali political machine.

Grewal writes that the Akalis' loss was marginal in votes, from 29.5 per cent in 1969 to 27.7 per cent, and that the Sikh peasant base of the Akali Dal remained virtually intact. The Congress's gain, he says, came largely at the expense of the Jana Sangh, and Sikh scheduled and backward castes, urban Hindus and Hindu Harijans largely supported the Congress. Giani Zail Singh was elected leader of the Congress Assembly party on 15 March 1972 and sworn in as Chief Minister on 17 March. Grewal adds that although nearly 60 per cent of the Congress legislators were Sikh, he did not enjoy the support of Sikh landholders.

On 25 March Sant Fateh Singh announced his retirement from active politics, and Mohan Singh Tur became president of the Akali Dal after the Sant's death on 30 October 1972, the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says. Grewal writes that before the end of 1972 the Akali Dal's Working Committee formed a sub-committee to draw up a policy programme, which became the Anandpur Sahib Resolution.

Where: Punjab, in all 104 constituencies.

Why it mattered: It gave the Congress its widest majority in the new Punjab so far and Zail Singh five years as Chief Minister, while the Akalis went back to opposition. Grewal says the Akali ministers' experience of tension with the Centre had led to rethinking, and that it was on the basis of such rethinking that the Working Committee formed its sub-committee before the end of 1972. Khushwant Singh adds that the Congress could now afford to dispense with the Akalis.