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{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = Calcutta South East seat in the Lok Sabha by-election, 1953
| country = India
| flag_year =
| type = By-election
| ongoing =
| party_colour =
| previous_election = 1952 Indian general election
| previous_year = 1951–52
| next_election = 1957 Indian general election
| next_year = 1957
| election_date =
| seats_for_election =
| turnout =
| image1 =
| colour1 = red
| candidate1 = [[Sadhan Gupta]]
| leader1 =
| leader_since1 =
| party1 = Communist Party of India
| alliance1 =
| home_state1 =
| leaders_seat1 =
| running_mate1 =
| last_election1 =
| seats_before1 =
| seats_needed1 =
| electoral_vote1 =
| states_carried1 =
| seats1 =
| seats_after1 =
| seat_change1 =
| popular_vote1 = 58,211
| percentage1 = 58.20%
| swing1 =
| image2 =
| colour2 = green
| candidate2 = [[Radhabinod Pal]]
| leader2 =
| leader_since2 =
| party2 = Indian National Congress
| alliance2 =
| home_state2 =
| leaders_seat2 =
| running_mate2 =
| last_election2 =
| seats_before2 =
| seats_needed2 =
| electoral_vote2 =
| states_carried2 =
| seats2 =
| seats_after2 =
| seat_change2 =
| popular_vote2 = 36,319
| percentage2 = 36.31%
| swing2 =
| poll1_date = 22 November 1953
| poll1_source =
| poll1_nominee1 =
| poll1_party1 =
| poll2_date =
| poll2_source =
| poll2_nominee1 =
| poll2_party1 =
| map_image =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| title =
| posttitle = MP
| before_election = [[Syama Prasad Mukherjee]]
| before_colour = orange
| after_election = [[Sadhan Gupta]]
| after_colour = red
| before_party = Bharatiya Jan Sangh
| after_party = Communist Party of India
| result =
}}
In 1953, a '''by-election was held for the [[Calcutta South East (Lok Sabha constituency)|Calcutta South East seat]]''' in the [[Lok Sabha]] (Lower House of the [[Parliament of India]]). The by-election was called after the death of the incumbent parliamentarian from Calcutta South East, Dr. [[Syama Prasad Mukherjee]]. The election saw the internationally renowned barrister [[Radhabinod Pal]] defeated by a young communist barrister [[Sadhan Gupta]].

==Background==
In the [[1951 Indian general election|1951–1952 Indian parliamentary election]] the Calcutta South East seat had been won by the [[Bharatiya Jan Sangh]] leader Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee. But a by-election was called in 1953 to fill the vacancy after Mukherjee died.<ref name=a>''The Hindu''. ''[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/veteran-leftist-sadhan-gupta-passes-away/article7671154.ece Veteran Leftist Sadhan Gupta passes away]''</ref> Mukherjee, a right-wing nationalist hardliner on the [[Kashmir conflict]], had been detained in June 1953 whilst trying to enter [[Kashmir]].<ref name="Nakazato2016">{{cite book|author=Nariaki Nakazato|title=Neonationalist Mythology in Postwar Japan: Pal's Dissenting Judgment at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3rTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA107|date=27 April 2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4985-2836-8|pages=107–108}}</ref> Whilst detained he suffered a heart attack and died.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/> 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 Sabha MP as well as communist members of the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]) the by-poll caught attention in national politics.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/><ref name=epw/>

==Candidates==
Four candidates contested the by-poll, all fielded by national political parties.<ref name="e"/><ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1951 TO THE FIRST LOK SABHA] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008191615/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF |date=2014-10-08 }}''</ref>

===Indian National Congress===
Ahead of the by-poll, the [[Indian National Congress]] contacted Radhabinod Pal to convince him to stand as their candidate.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/> Notably Pal had been a long-time associate of Mukherjee and sharp critic of the Congress Party.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/> Reportedly, Pal initially rejected the offer but was later convinced.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/> Pal's conditions for accepting the candidacy included a promise that Pal neither would have to campaign for himself in any major extent nor spend any money of his own on the campaign.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/> Pal, who was a prominent jurist, served in the [[International Military Tribunal for the Far East]] and was in Japan between 26 September and 7 November 1953.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/> Considering Pal's recognition as a jurist, the newspaper ''[[Ananda Bazaar Patrika]]'' expected that Pal would emerge victorious in the by-poll.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/>

===Communist Party of India===
Pal's main challenger was another barrister. Whilst Pal was a senior jurist with international recognition, his opponent was a young lawyer linked to the labour movement. Sadhan Gupta had positioned himself in the legal community through the 1945 case "Emperor vs Shibnath Banerjee" and represented many persons affected by preventive detentions.<ref name=c>{{cite book|title=Popular Jurist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DtabAAAAMAAJ|volume=4|year=1987|publisher=All India Lawyers' Union|page=18}}</ref><ref name=f>''Frontline''. ''[http://www.frontline.in/the-nation/a-stalwart-passes-away/article7702318.ece A stalwart passes away]''</ref> Gupta, who was blind, stood on a [[Communist Party of India]] ticket.<ref name="e"/> His father was a member of the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]] at the time, representing the Indian National Congress.<ref name=epw/>

The CPI election campaign highlighted Pal's sudden shift in political affiliation, reminding voters that Pal used to be an opponent of the Congress government.<ref name=epw/>

===Bharatiya Jan Sangh===
Dr. Mukherjee's party fielded Jasho Prakash Mitter as its candidate.<ref name="e"/> A Bengali Hindu refugee from the [[Partition of India]], Mitter was a prominent barrister in Calcutta.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/><ref name="Maswani1979">{{cite book|author=A. M. K. Maswani|title=Subversion in East Pakistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2wYNAAAAIAAJ|year=1979|publisher=Amir Publications|page=118}}</ref> He had represented the [[British Crown]] in the 1930s [[Meerut Conspiracy Case]].<ref name="Roy1997">{{cite book|first=Samaren | last=Roy|title=M.N. Roy: A Political Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TwNq3oQK89kC&pg=PA103|date=1 January 1997|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-250-0299-4|page=103}}</ref><ref name="Hutchinson1935">{{cite book|first=Lester | last=Hutchinson|title=Conspiracy at Meerut|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RY85AQAAIAAJ|year=1935|publisher=Allen & Unwin|page=88}}</ref> He had also defended accused at the [[Red Fort trials|Red Fort trial]].<ref name="Bose2016">{{cite book|author=Sisir Kumar Bose|title=Subhas and Sarat: An Intimate Memoir of the Bose Brothers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kp8bDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT211|date=1 May 2016|publisher=Aleph Book Company|isbn=978-93-84067-74-8|page=211}}</ref> At the time of the by-poll Mitter was the president of the Council for the Protection of the Rights of Minorities, a body with links to the [[Hindu Mahasabha]].<ref name="Nakazato2016"/> The organisation called for carving out a separate territory for Hindus in [[East Pakistan]] and was organising a paramilitary body amongst Hindu refugees.<ref name="Nakazato2016"/>

===Forward Bloc (Marxist Group)===
Another party in the fray was the [[All India Forward Bloc|Forward Bloc (Marxist Group)]]. The FB(MG) candidate Dr. Bhupal Bose was supported by sectors of the non-communist left.<ref name="Ray2007">{{cite book|author=Sudhir Ray|title=Marxist parties of West Bengal in opposition and in government, 1947–2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=loYOAQAAMAAJ|date=1 November 2007|publisher=Progressive Publishers|isbn=978-81-8064-135-0|page=150}}</ref> Bose was a veteran revolutionary leader and former prisoner at the [[Cellular Jail|Andaman jail]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Indian Annual Register|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.93700|year=1940|publisher=Annual Register Office.}}</ref><ref name="Basu2003">{{cite book|author=Asish Krishna Basu|title=Marxism in an Indian State: An Analytical Study of West Bengal Leftism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TabaAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Ratna Prakashan|isbn=978-81-85709-73-4|page=28}}</ref> However, within the FB(MG) there was a sector (including leaders such as [[Satyapriya Banerjee]], Amar Bose, Suhrid Mallick Chowdhury and Ram Chatterjee) that argued in favour of support to the CPI candidate.<ref name="Basu2003"/><ref name="Sadasivan1977">{{cite book|author=S. N. Sadasivan|title=Party and democracy in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJ2KAAAAMAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Tata McGraw-Hill|page=87}}</ref> During the election campaign they worked for the CPI candidate rather than the one nominated by the FB(MG).<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> The by-poll provoked a split in the party as the Working Committee of the party expelled the pro-communist group.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> The expelled group later formed the [[Marxist Forward Bloc]] in April the following year.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/>

==Results==
The vote was held on 22 November 1953.<ref name=epw/><ref name="Nakazato2016"/> A by-election was held on the same day in another West Bengal Lok Sabha seat, [[Nabadwip (Lok Sabha constituency)|Nabadwip]].<ref name=epw>''The Economic Weekly''. ''[http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1953_5/48/southeast_calcutta.pdf South-east Calcutta]''</ref> The result from the Calcutta South East by-poll was published on 27 November 1953.<ref name="Chatterjee1953"/> Gupta won the election, having received 58,211 votes (58.21%).<ref name="e">Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/ByeElection/Bye-ele-results%2052-95.xls Bye-election results 1952–95]''</ref> Pal finished in second place with 36,319 votes (36.31%), J.P. Mitter of Bharatiya Jan Sangh obtained 5,431 votes (5.43%) and Bhupal Bose of the [[All India Forward Bloc|Forward Bloc (Marxist Group)]] got 5,415 votes (5.41%).<ref name="e"/><ref name="Chatterjee1953">{{cite book|author=Ramananda Chatterjee|title=The Modern Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uyAFAAAAMAAJ|volume=94|date=July 1953|publisher=Prabasi Press Private, Limited|page=421}}</ref> Bose and Mitter forfeited their deposits.<ref name="Chatterjee1953"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=Lok Sabha by-elections, 1953 elections in India, Elections in West Bengal, 1950s in West Bengal, 1950s in Kolkata
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}}

[[Category:Lok Sabha by-elections]]
[[Category:1953 elections in India]]
[[Category:Elections in West Bengal]]
[[Category:1950s in West Bengal]]
[[Category:1950s in Kolkata]]

1953 Calcutta South East by-election - Revision history

MetaBOT at 14:11, 8 July 2023