West Bengal election results
SURESH NAMBATH
Presents the complete and detailed results of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal
ELECTION RECORDER - An Analytical Reference (Bengal-West Bengal 1862-2004): Dilip Banerjee; Star Publishing House, 26/1A/H-3, Dr. Subhas Lane, Kolkata-700002. Rs. 700.
Updating a book of statistics is as important as compiling it. In Election Recorder - An Analytical Reference which brings in one book the election results of Bengal and West Bengal from 1862 to 2004, Dilip Banerjee builds on what was first published in 1990. By bringing out a more complete and more comprehensive second edition, he has ensured that the effort behind the first was not laid waste by time.
The detailed results of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal since 1952 is supplemented by information about members of the Council of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal from 1862.
History
The book is thus no reprinting of data available with the Election Commission of India. Actually, this is the first time such detailed information, collected from several scattered first-hand sources comes in one book. The Recorder also has a brief history of the Provincial legislature from 1862 to 1950. It also has notes, useful from a historical point of view, at the end of listings of members of the Council of Lieutenant Governor (1862 to 1912) and the Bengal Legislative Council from 1913.
The Eastern Bengal and Assam Legislative Council (1906-12), which followed the Partition of Bengal, also forms part of the book, as does the list of members of the Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1937 to 1945. The book also touches on the impact of the Partition on the West Bengal Legislative Assembly (1947-52). Many Muslim members resigned at different times during the period of this Assembly.
In the second part, beginning 1952, the book provides detailed results of all the elections. The results of the elections in independent India are supplemented by lists of the Council of Ministers. The annexure, which includes a history of the West Bengal Legislature by the Speaker of the House, H.A. Halim, and rulings on declaring a leader of the main opposition party as the Leader of the Opposition, will, like the rest of the book, be useful to historians and research scholars looking for quick reference.
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