UP Election 2022 Marks 70 Years Of First Assembly Polls. Only 3 Full-Term CMs Since 1952

BJP's Yogi Adityanath only third CM to complete full term since 1952, after BSP’s Mayawati and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav.

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh is going to polls on Thursday, February 10, in the first of the seven-phase elections to the legislative assemblies of five states — UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. 

The UP polls, along with Punjab, will mark a milestone in the electoral history of India, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of legislative assembly elections in the states. The first assembly election in UP was held on March 28, 1952, a day after Punjab conducted the polls on March 27, according to a statistical report of the Election Commission of India.

The Congress had won both the states with a majority, claiming 388 seats in UP and 96 in Punjab. 

The First Congress Years

Govind Ballabh Pant, who had been the chief minister of the UP provincial assembly since 1950 and the premier of United Provinces prior to that for two terms, was sworn in as the chief minister after the 1952 polls. 

Pant, however, had to relinquish the post after three years as he was called to the Union Cabinet. Sampurnanand replaced him as the next CM and completed the rest of the term. He became the CM again after the 1957 elections but was replaced in 1960 by Chandra Bhanu Gupta. 

The Congress ruled the state for 15 years and UP saw five CMs during the period. Among them was Sucheta Kriplani, India’s first woman chief minister.

Congress Voted Out, Returned. 10 More Years Of Musical Chair

The Congress fell short of majority in the 1967 elections and UP saw an alliance government coming to power, led by Jat leader Charan Singh of the Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD). The alliance comprised Jana Sangh, CPI(M), Republican Party of India, Swatantra Party and Praja Socialist Party, besides BKD and Independents.

This government, however, lasted less than one year. Fresh elections were held in 1969 after a year of President's Rule. The Congress failed to secure a majority once again, but managed to form the government. It retuned to power in 1974 with a majority.

The musical chair, however, continued and UP saw six CMs and four stints of President's Rule in eight years since 1969, the last two being the important years that saw the Indira Gandhi government at the Centre imposing Emergency in the country.

Post-Emergency Uncertainty  

Janata Party won an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha elections held after Emergency was lifted in 1977. It then dissolved all the legislative assemblies with a Congress majority.

Fresh elections in Uttar Pradesh saw the Janata Party coming to power with an absolute majority. But that did not change UP’s fate as far as political stability is concerned. 

Ram Naresh Yadav became the CM in 1977, but was replaced by Banarasi Das in less than two years. 

The year 1980 saw another Lok Sabha election and Indira Gandhi was voted back to power. She dismissed the state assemblies where the Janata Party was in power.

Congress Returned, As Did Janata Dal. But Stability Eluded UP

In the 1980 assembly elections, the Congress returned to power in the state with a majority, and Vishwanath Pratap Singh, then a Congress leader, became the CM. 

The Raja of Manda, however, could occupy the chair only for a little more than two years. 

UP saw six CMs until the 1989 elections, when VP Singh's Janata Dal returned to power with outside help from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was then a Janata Party leader, was sworn in as the CM.

A lot changed in the state’s political scenario, with the crises of instability deepening. The period until 2007 elections saw 10 CMs and three stints of President's Rule amid issues such as Mandal and Ayodhya Ram Mandir that had larger nationwide ramifications. It was during this period that UP got its first BJP chief minister in Kalyan Singh, after the party came to power with a majority in 1991. Singh, however, resigned on December 6, 1992, in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition. The period also saw the first Dalit CM in Bahujan Samaj Party’s Mayawati, and a 48-hour CM in Jagdambika Pal, who was then with the Congress, in 1998.

First Full-Term CMs

Mayawati’s BSP came to power in 2007 with a majority, in a first since the 1991 elections. This election brought a major change in the state’s political scenario so far as the CM chair is concerned as Mayawati became the first CM to complete her tenure of five years. 

She was, however, voted out in the 2012 elections as Samajwadi Party came to power with Akhilesh Yadav as the CM. At 38, he was the youngest CM to hold the post in UP. Akhilesh too completed his full term, before being voted out in 2017.

Yogi Adityanath became the CM in 2017 and is only the third CM to complete his term in the electoral history of the state. If the BJP wins the 2022 UP Assmebly election, and Yogi Adityanath is made the CM again, he will be the first CM to return after a full term.