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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1987 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
| country = India
| type = parliamentary
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1982 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
| previous_year = 1982
| next_election = 1991 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
| next_year = 1991
| election_date = 10 April 1987
| seats_for_election = All 294 seats in the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]
| image1 = [[File:Jyoti Basu - Calcutta 1996-12-21 089 Cropped.png|100x100px]]
| leader1 = [[Jyoti Basu]]
| party1 = Communist Party of India (Marxist)
| alliance1 = [[Left Front (West Bengal)|LF]]
| leaders_seat1 = [[Satgachhia (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Satgachhia]]
| seats1 = 187
| seat_change1 = {{increase}}13
| popular_vote1 = 10,327,984
| percentage1 = 39.30%
| swing1 = {{increase}}0.89%
| image2 =
| leader2 = [[Siddhartha Shankar Ray]]
| leaders_seat2 = None
| party2 = Indian National Congress
| alliance2 =
| seats2 = 40
| seat_change2 = {{decrease}}9
| popular_vote2 = 10,989,520
| percentage2 = 41.81%
| swing2 = {{increase}}6.08%
| map_image =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| title = [[Chief Minister of West Bengal|Chief Minister]]
| posttitle = [[Chief Minister of West Bengal|Chief Minister]]
| before_election = [[Jyoti Basu]]
| before_party = Left Front (West Bengal)
| after_election = [[Jyoti Basu]]
| after_party = Left Front (West Bengal)
| majority_seats = 148
}}
'''[[Vidhan Sabha|Legislative Assembly]] elections''' were held in the [[India]]n state of [[West Bengal]] in 1987. The election was mainly a clash between the [[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]] led by Chief Minister [[Jyoti Basu]] and the [[Indian National Congress|Indian National Congress(I)]] led by Prime Minister [[Rajiv Gandhi]]. 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 (West Bengal)|Left Front]] denied tickets to 62 sitting legislators.<ref name=in1987/> 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.<ref name=in1987/>

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.<ref name=in1987/> During the campaign Basu claimed that the Delhi government discriminated against West Bengal in allocation of resources.<ref name=in1987/>

===Congress(I)===
'Natun Bangla' ('New Bengal') was the key slogan of the Congress(I) campaign.<ref name=in1987/> The star campaigner of Congress(I) was Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was flown in from Delhi and toured the state.<ref name=in1987>''India Today''. ''[http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/west-bengal-cm-jyoti-basu-attacks-rajiv-gandhis-failure-to-resolve-national-problems/1/336851.html West Bengal: Basu vs Gandhi]''</ref><ref name="Bose2013">{{cite book|author=Sumantra Bose|title=Transforming India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=reiwAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA138|date=16 September 2013|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-72819-6|page=138}}</ref> At the time Gandhi enjoyed significant popularity, especially amongst urban upper-middle class sectors.<ref name="Bose2013"/> Gandhi was accompanied by West Bengal Congress(I) chief [[Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi]] on the campaign trail.<ref name=in1987/> Striking a populist tone, Gandhi promised development in West Bengal and to create a million new jobs.<ref name=in1987/>

The Congress(I) campaign, whilst being boosted by Gandhi, suffered from internal dissent in party ranks.<ref name=in1987/> Congress(I) heavy-weights [[Subrata Mukherjee]] and [[Somen Mitra|Soumen Mitra]] led a revolt against the party leadership.<ref name=in1987/> And [[Pranab Mukherjee]] had floated his Rashtriya Samajbadi Congress, breaking away from Congress(I).<ref name=in1987/>

==Gorkhaland issue==
Whilst an accord had been struck between Gandhi and [[Gorkha National Liberation Front]] leader [[Subhash Ghisingh]] ahead of the polls, violence escalated in the Darjeeling hills.<ref name=in1987/> In the run-up to the polls, several policemen were killed in the area.<ref name=in1987/>

==Results==
The Left Front won 251 out of 294 seats. It obtained 13,918,403 votes (52.96% of the statewide vote).<ref name=s1987>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1987/StatisticalReportWestBengal87.pdf STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1987 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL]''</ref>

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
!colspan=2|Party
!Candidates
!Seats
!Votes
!%
|-
|rowspan=8 align=left|[[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]]
|align=left|[[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]
|212
|187
|10,285,723
|39.12
|-
|align=left|[[All India Forward Bloc]]
|34
|26
|1,534,795
|5.84
|-
|align=left|[[Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)|Revolutionary Socialist Party]]
|23
|18
|1,036,138
|3.94
|-
|align=left|[[Communist Party of India]]
|12
|11
|503,854
|1.92
|-
|align=left|[[Revolutionary Communist Party of India]]
|3
|1
|118,985
|0.42
|-
|align=left|[[Marxist Forward Bloc]]
|2
|2
|107,732
|0.41
|-
|align=left|[[Biplobi Bangla Congress]]
|1
|0
|42,261
|0.16
|-
|align=left|[[West Bengal Socialist Party]] and<br />[[Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra)]]
|7
|6
|288,915
|1.10
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|[[Indian National Congress|Indian National Congress (I)]]
|294
|40
|10,989,520
|41.81
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|[[Socialist Unity Centre of India]]
|46
|2
|237,674
|0.90
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|[[Indian Union Muslim League]]
|36
|1
|162,850
|0.62
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|[[Bharatiya Janata Party]]
|57
|0
|134,867
|0.51
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|[[Janata Party]]
|30
|0
|41,475
|0.16
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|[[Lok Dal]]
|18
|0
|10,032
|0.04
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|[[Indian Congress (Socialist-Sarat Chandra Sinha)]]
|4
|0
|3,335
|0.01
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|Independents
|718
|0
|784,937
|2.99
|-
|colspan=2 align=left|'''Total'''
|'''1,497'''
|'''294'''
|'''26,283,093'''
|'''100'''
|-
|align=left colspan=6|Source: [http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1987/StatisticalReportWestBengal87.pdf Election Commission of India]
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://eci.gov.in/files/category/94-west-bengal/ West Bangal General Legislative Election Results] at the ''[[Election Commission of India]]''

{{West Bengal assembly elections}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=State Assembly elections in West Bengal, 1980s in West Bengal
|description=
}}

[[Category:1987 State Assembly elections in India|West Bengal]]
[[Category:State Assembly elections in West Bengal]]
[[Category:1980s in West Bengal]]

1987 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election - Revision history

MetaBOT at 15:22, 8 July 2023