1973 Bangladeshi general election
← 1970 7 March 1973 (1973-03-07) 1979 →
300 of the 315 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad
151 seats needed for a majority
Registered35,205,642
Turnout54.91%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Serajul Alam Khan Ataur Rahman Khan
Party AL JSD BJL
Last election 288 seats – 0 seats
Seats won 293 1 1
Seat change Increase 5 New Increase 1
Popular vote 13,798,717 1,229,110 62,354
Percentage 73.20% 6.52% 0.33%
Prime Minister before election

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
AL

Subsequent Prime Minister

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
AL

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General elections were held in newly independent Bangladesh on 7 March 1973. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Awami League, who won 293 of the 300 directly elected seats, including eleven constituencies where they were elected unopposed without a vote.[1][2] Voter turnout was 55%.

Though the Awami League was already the clear favourite before the elections, Sheikh Mujib's government put major effort into winning every seat. This led to a nearly complete obliteration of the opposition, with most of the leadership of opposition parties failing to win seats, including Major Jalil (Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal), Rashed Khan Menon, Kazi Zafar Ahmed and Aleem al-Razee (National Awami Party (Bhashani)), and Suranjit Sengupta (National Awami Party (Muzaffar)).[3]

Conduct

Prior to the elections, some opposition candidates in marginal constituencies were kidnapped by Awami League supporters before they were able to submit their nomination papers. In some constituencies where opposition candidates were leading in the vote count, counting was abruptly stopped, ballot boxes were stuffed with fake papers, and the Awami League candidates were declared winners amid the strong presence of Awami League volunteers.[4]

However, it was generally believed that Awami League, with the appeal of its leader Sheikh Mujib and its instrumental role in the independence of Bangladesh, would have easily won the elections without manipulation.[4]

Results

PartyVotes%Seats
GeneralReservedTotal+/–
Awami League13,798,71773.2029315308+10
National Awami Party (Muzaffar)1,569,2998.32000New
Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal1,229,1106.52101New
National Awami Party (Bhashani)1,002,7715.32000New
Bangladesh Jatiya League62,3540.33101+1
Bangla Jatiya League53,0970.28000New
Communist Party of Bangladesh47,2110.25000New
Sramik Krishak Samajbadi Dal38,4210.20000New
Bangladesh Communist Party (Leninist)18,6190.10000New
Bangladesh Shramik Federation17,2710.09000New
Banglar Communist Party11,9110.06000New
Bangla Chattra Union7,5640.04000New
Bangladesh Jatiya Congress3,7610.02000New
Jatiya Ganatantrik Dal1,8180.01000New
Independents989,8845.25505–2
Total18,851,808100.0030015315+5
Valid votes18,851,80897.53
Invalid/blank votes477,8752.47
Total votes19,329,683100.00
Registered voters/turnout35,205,64254.91
Source: Nohlen et al., Government of Bangladesh, Kumar Panday

Vote share by district

District BAL NAP-M NAP-B JSD Others
Rangpur 77.03 10.56 6.39 1.51 4.50
Dinajpur 78.52 8.30 4.56 0.76 7.86
Bogra 74.91 16.94 2.20 2.23 3.66
Rajshahi 74.93 8.95 4.23 8.45 3.44
Pabna 84.89 4.72 1.35 4.59 4.45
Kushtia 76.03 10.10 7.59 6.28 –
Jessore 77.44 3.29 9.14 6.33 3.80
Khulna 74.03 3.19 12.71 5.91 4.16
Patuakhali 73.14 14.07 1.09 1.09 10.61
Bakerganj 71.21 7.92 8.47 10.25 2.15
Tangail 56.42 5.28 16.82 19.44 2.03
Mymensingh 71.44 15.02 1.15 8.74 3.65
Dacca 76.05 7.37 3.51 5.62 7.45
Faridpur 87.90 3.42 0.81 2.76 5.10
Sylhet 67.70 14.40 3.56 4.79 9.55
Comilla 70.09 7.44 2.89 3.70 15.88
Noakhali 64.88 2.26 2.14 20.41 10.31
Chittagong 61.73 7.57 13.78 12.01 4.92
Chittagong H.T. 28.43 5.24 2.37 2.97 60.99
Source: Moten[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p535 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
  2. ^ Government of Bangladesh (1991). A Background Paper on Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections. Dhaka: Press Information Department (Handout No. 429).
  3. ^ Jahan, Rounaq (1974). "Bangladesh in 1973: Management of Factional Politics". Asian Survey. 14 (2): 125–35. doi:10.2307/2643085. JSTOR 2643085 – via JSTOR.
  4. ^ a b Maniruzzaman, Talukder (1975). "Bangladesh: An Unfinished Revolution?". The Journal of Asian Studies. 34 (4). Cambridge University Press: 891–911. doi:10.2307/2054506. ISSN 0021-9118. JSTOR 2054506. S2CID 154434833.
  5. ^ Moten, A. Rashid (1981). "Parliamentary Elections in Bangladesh". The Indian Journal of Political Science. 42 (2): 58–73. JSTOR 41855836 – via JSTOR.
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