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{{short description|Second election of Punjab Legislative Assembly}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox legislature
| name = Second Punjab Legislative Assembly
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| transcription_name =
| legislature =
| coa_pic =
| coa_res = 250px
| coa_alt =
| house_type = Unicameral
| term_length = 1957–1962
| body =
| houses = [[Punjab Legislative Assembly]]
| foundation = 25 April 1957
| disbanded = 1 March 1962
| preceded_by = [[First Punjab Legislative Assembly]]
| succeeded_by = [[Third Punjab Legislative Assembly]]
| leader1_type = [[List of Speakers of the Punjab Legislative Assembly|Speaker]]
| leader1 = [[Gurdial Singh Dhillon]]<ref name="speakerpunjab">{{cite web|url=http://speakerpunjab.gov.in/former-speakers/|website=speakerpunjab.gov.in|title=Former speaker of punjab vidhan sabha|access-date=23 December 2021}}</ref>
|leader2 =
| party1 =
|election1 =
| leader3_type = [[List of Deputy Speakers of the Punjab Legislative Assembly|Deputy Speaker]]
| leader3 =[[Ch. Sarup Singh|Sarup Singh]]<ref name="page13">page xiii of ''[http://www.punjabassembly.nic.in/images/docs/compendium_doc.pdf Punjab Vidhan Sabha Compendium]''. [[Punjab Legislative Assembly]]. Retrieved on 2 July 2019.</ref>
|leader4=
| leader5_type = [[List of chief ministers of the Punjab (India)|Leader of the House]]
| leader5 = [[Pratap Singh Kairon]]
|leader6=
| leader7_type = [[List of leaders of the opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly|Leader of the Opposition]]
| leader7 = [[Baldev Prakash]]
| leader8 =
| committees1 =
| committees2 =
| joint_committees =
| voting_system1 = [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post]]
| voting_system2 =
| last_election1 =[[1957 Punjab Legislative Assembly election|1957]]
| next_election1 =[[1962 Punjab Legislative Assembly election|1962]]
| redistricting =
| session_room =
| session_res =
| session_alt =
| meeting_place =
| members = '''154'''<ref name="eci">{{cite web|url=https://old.eci.gov.in/files/file/3443-punjab-1957/?do=download|website=eci.gov.in|title=Statistical Report of 1957 Punjab Legislative Assembly election (PDF)|access-date=23 December 2021}}</ref>
| structure1 = 2nd Punjab Legislative Assembly.svg
| structure1_res = 280px
| political_groups1 = '''[[Government of Punjab, India|Government]] (120)'''
* {{Color box|#00DDFF|border=darkgray}} [[Indian National Congress|INC]] (120)
'''Opposition (34)'''
* {{Color box|#FF9933|border=darkgray}} [[Bharatiya Jana Sangh|BJS]] (9)
* {{Color box|red|border=darkgray}} [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] (6)
* {{Color box|#00FFFF|border=darkgray}} [[Scheduled Caste Federation|SCF]] (5)
* {{Color box|#00B2B2|border=darkgray}} [[Praja Socialist Party|PSP]] (1)
* {{Color box|#DDDDDD|border=darkgray}} [[Independent politician|Ind]] (13)
}}
The '''1957 Punjab Legislative Assembly election''' was the Second [[Punjab Legislative Assembly|Vidhan Sabha]] ([[State Legislative Assembly (India)|Legislative Assembly]]) election of the state when the [[Indian National Congress]] emerged as the largest party with 120 seats in the 154-seat legislature in the election. The [[Bharatiya Jana Sangh]] became the official opposition, holding 9 seats.

==Background==
Before 1957 General election [[Shiromani Akali Dal]] merged with Congress and 1957 election was fought by Akali candidates on Congress tickets and 28 Akali leaders won.<ref name=Politics>[http://idcindia.org/wp-content/themes/idc/pdf/elections/Electoral_Politics_in%20_Punjab_2021_updated.pdf Electoral politics in Punjab]. (Pdf) P. 38. Retrieved 23 December 2021.</ref> However, the understanding didn't last long and Akali President [[Tara Singh (activist)|Tara Singh]] ordered the Congress MLAs who belonged to Akali Dal to withdraw from Congress, but only 8 MLAs resigned.<ref name=Politics/>

Kairon used strong-arm methods to crush the agitations. During his tenure as Chief Minister (1956–1964), he was able to bring about the failure of every agitation launched against his Government.<ref>Turmoil in Punjab Politics by S. C. Arora. P.59</ref>

==Punjabi Suba==
{{Main|Punjabi Suba movement}}
During 1960, [[Akali Dal]] launched Second phase of [[Punjabi Suba movement#Renewed efforts for the Punjabi Suba|Punjabi Suba Agitation]] for a separate state on the basis of [[Punjabi language]]. Initially Kairon dealt with the protests successful but with the passage of time the pressure had been increased on the Government of India with the hunger strike of [[Tara Singh (activist)|Tara Singh]] and [[Sant Fateh Singh]]. There were several meetings between Tara Singh and [[Jawahar Lal Nehru]]. With these agitations [[Akali Dal]] was gaining popularity among Punjabi Speaking regions and [[Sikh]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grewal |first1=J. S. |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India II.3) |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=9781316025338 |pages=181–209 |edition=Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew |access-date=25 December 2021|author1-link=J. S. Grewal}}</ref>

==Conflicts in Cabinet==
Kairon had to face a tough time throughout his term as chief minister because the Congress party itself was a divided house. There were several factions within the Congress itself led by his political opponents. There were five main factions in the Congress party. One function was led by Giani Kartar Singh (a turncoat who shuttled between the [[Akali Dal]] and Congress party), another faction was led by [[Gian Singh Rarewala]], 3rd faction being led by [[Prabodh Chandra (politician)|Prabodh Chandra]]. Chandra nursed a grudge against Kairon because his mentor, Sachar, was dethroned by Kairon, the fourth faction was led by Kairon himself and other faction was led by [[Devi Lal]]. In 1958, due to factional feud in the Congress, a [[No-confidence motion]] was tabled against Kairon. Jawaharlal Nehru and [[Sriman Narayan]] intervened and saved Kairon by manipulating support of other factions. In 1959, again owing to a feud in the cabinet itself, Kairon took over the health portfolio from his colleague Guru Gurbanta Singh on the pretext of "strain of overwork".<ref>Hindustan Times (Delhi), 25 July 1959.</ref> Later in the same your Kairon took over the Irrigation portfolio from his cabinet colleague Gian Singh Rarewala and instituted a personal enquiry against him. Gyan Singh rarewala characterized the move for an enquiry against him with a lot of publicity as a 'sheer political victimization'. Kairon neither asked Rarewala to resign nor did he get him dismissed from cabinet. Kairon's Cabinet instead of being a monolithic body or working as a team was rather a divided house. Kairon failed to provide ministerial berths to certain Congressmen and they became his strong critics.<ref>Turmoil in Punjab Politics by S. C. Arora. pp. 60–61.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Punjab Legislative Assembly|state=expanded}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Terms of the Punjab Legislative Assembly|2nd]]
[[Category:1957 establishments in East Punjab]]
[[Category:Punjab, India MLAs 1957–1962| ]]

2nd Punjab Assembly - Revision history

SheldonCruce at 05:07, 1 January 2025