1970 Pakistani General Elections

1970 Pakistani general election
General elections were held in Pakistan

1970 Pakistani general election
on 7 December 1970. They were the first
general elections held in Pakistan (East and
West Pakistan) and ultimately only general
elections held prior to the independence of
7 December 1970
Bangladesh. Voting took place in 300
parliamentary constituencies of Pakistan to
All 300 seats in the National Assembly
elect members of the National Assembly of
151 seats needed for a majority
Pakistan, which was then the only chamber
of a unicameral Parliament of Pakistan. Turnout 63.0%
The elections also saw members of the five
Provincial assemblies elected in Punjab,
Sindh, North West Frontier Province,
Balochistan and East Pakistan.
The elections were a fierce contest

between two socialist parties, the Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) and Awami League.
The Awami League was the sole major Leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
party in East Pakistan, while in the four Party Awami League PPP
provinces of West Pakistan, the PPP faced
Leader since 5 December 1963 30 November
severe competition from the conservative
1967
factions of Muslim League, the largest of
which was Muslim League (Qayyum), as Leader's seat Dacca Larkana
well as Islamist parties like Jamaat-e- Seats won 160 81
Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Popular vote 12,937,162 6,148,923
and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP). Percentage 39.2% 18.6%
The Awami League won a landslide

victory by winning an absolute majority of
160 seats in the National Assembly and
298 of the 310 seats in the Provincial
Assembly of East Pakistan. The PPP won
only 81 seats in the National Assembly, but
were the winning party in Punjab and
Sindh. The Marxist National Awami Party
emerged victorious in Northwest Frontier
Province and Balochistan.
The Assembly was initially not Map of Pakistan showing National Assembly Constituencies
inaugurated as President Yahya Khan and and winning partes
the PPP did not want a party from East
Pakistan in government. This caused great Prime Minister before Subsequent Prime Minister
unrest in East Pakistan, which soon election Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
escalated into a civil war that led to the None (post vacant sincePPP
formation of the independent state of 1958)
Bangladesh. The Assembly was eventually
opened when President Yahya resigned a
few days later and PPP leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took over. Bhutto became Prime Minister in 1973,
after the post was recreated by the new Constitution.
Contents
Background
Parties and candidates
Election campaign in East Pakistan
Elections in West Pakistan
Nominations
Voter turnout
Results
National Assembly
Provincial Assemblies
East Pakistan
Punjab
Sindh
North-West Frontier Province
Balochistan
Aftermath
References
External links
Background
On 23 March 1956, Pakistan changed from being a Dominion of the British Commonwealth and became
an Islamic republic after framing its own constitution. Although the first general elections were
scheduled for early 1959, severe political instability led President Iskander Mirza to abrogate the
constitution on 7 October 1958. Mirza imposed martial law and handed power to the Commander-in-
Chief of the Pakistan Army, General Muhammad Ayub Khan. After assuming presidency, President Ayub
Khan promoted himself to the rank of Field marshal and appointed General Muhammad Musa Khan as
the new Commander-in-Chief.
On 17 February 1960, President Ayub Khan appointed a commission under Muhammad Shahabuddin,
the Chief Justice of Pakistan, to report a political framework for the country. The commission submitted
its report on 29 April 1961, and on the basis of this report, a new constitution was framed on 1 March
1962. The new constitution, declaring the country as Republic of Pakistan, brought about a presidential
system of government, as opposed to the parliamentary system of government under the 1956
Constitution. The electoral system was made indirect, and the "basic democrats" were declared electoral
college for the purpose of electing members of the National and Provincial Assemblies. Under the new
system, presidential election were held on 2 January 1965 which resulted in a victory for Ayub Khan. As
years went by, political opposition against President Ayub Khan mounted. In East Pakistan, leader of the
Awami League, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was one of the key leaders to rally opposition to President
Ayub Khan. In 1966, he began the Six point movement for East Pakistani autonomy.
In 1968, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was charged with sedition after the government of President Ayub
Khan accused him for conspiring with India against the stability of Pakistan.[1] While a conspiracy
between Mujib and India for East Pakistan's secession was not itself conclusively proven,[2] it is known
that Mujib and the Awami League had held secret meetings with Indian government officials in 1962 and
after the 1965 war.[3] This case led to an uprising in East Pakistan which consisted of a series of mass
demonstrations and sporadic conflicts between the government forces and protesters.[1] In West Pakistan,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who served as foreign minister under President Ayub Khan, resigned from his office
and founded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1967. The left-wing, socialist political party took up
opposition to President Ayub Khan as well.
Ayub Khan succumbed to political pressure on 26 March 1969 and handed power to the Commander-in-
Chief of the Pakistan Army, General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan. President Yahya Khan imposed
martial law and the 1962 Constitution was abrogated. On 31 March 1970, President Yahya Khan
announced a Legal Framework Order (LFO) which called for direct elections for a unicameral
legislature. Many in the West feared the East wing's demand for countrywide provincial autonomy.[4] The
purpose of the LFO was to secure the future Constitution which would be written after the election[5] so
that it would include safeguards such as preserving Pakistan's territorial integrity and Islamic ideology.[6]
The integrated province of West Pakistan, which was formed on 22 November 1954, was abolished and
four provinces were retrieved: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and the North-West Frontier Province. The
principles of representation was made on the basis of population, and since East Pakistan had more
population than the combined population of the four provinces of West Pakistan, the former got more
than half seats in the National Assembly. Yahya Khan ignored reports that Sheikh Mujib planned to
disregard the LFO and that India was increasingly interfering in East Pakistan.[7] Nor did he believe that
the Awami League would actually sweep the elections in East Pakistan.[8]
A month before the election, the Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan. This was the deadliest tropical
cyclone in world history, killing on the order of 500,000 people. The Pakistan government was severely
criticised for its response.
Parties and candidates

The general elections of 1970 are considered one of the fairest and cleanest elections in the history of
Pakistan, with about twenty-four political parties taking part. The general elections presented a picture of
a Two-party system, with the Awami League, a Bengali nationalist party, competing against the
extremely influential and widely popular Pakistan Peoples Party, a leftist and democratic socialist party
which had been a major power-broker in West Pakistan. The Pakistani government supported the pro-
Islamic parties since they were committed to strong federalism.[9] The Jamaat-e-Islami suspected that the
Awami League had secessionist intentions.[10]
Election campaign in East Pakistan

The continuous public meetings of the Awami League in East Pakistan and the Pakistan Peoples Party in
Western Pakistan attracted huge crowds. The Awami League, a Bengali nationalist party, mobilised
support in East Pakistan on the basis of its Six-Points Program (SPP), which was the main attraction in
the party's manifesto. In East Pakistan, a huge majority of the Bengali nation favoured the Awami
League, under Sheikh Mujib. The party received a huge percentage of the popular vote in East Pakistan
and emerged as the largest party in the nation as a whole, gaining the exclusive mandate of Pakistan in
terms both of seats and of votes.
The Pakistan Peoples Party failed to win any seats in East Pakistan. On the other hand, the Awami
League had failed to gather any seats in West Pakistan. The Awami League's failure to win any seats in
the west was used by the leftists and democratic socialists led by Zulfikar Bhutto who argued that Mujib
had received "no mandate or support from West Pakistan" (ignoring the fact that he himself did not win
any seat in East Pakistan).[11]
The then leaders of Pakistan, all from West Pakistan and PPP leaders, strongly opposed the idea of an
East Pakistani-led government.[11] Many in Pakistan predicted that the Awami League-controlled
government would oversee the passage of a new constitution with a simple majority.[11] Bhutto uttered
his infamous phrase "idhar hum, udhar tum" (We rule here, you rule there) – thus dividing Pakistan for
the first time orally.[12]
The same attitudes and emotions were also felt in East Pakistan whereas East-Pakistanis absorbed the
feeling and reached to the conclusion that Pakistan had been benefited with economic opportunities,
investments, and social growth would swiftly depose any East Pakistanis from obtaining those
opportunities.[11]
Some Bengalis sided with the Pakistan Peoples' Party and had voiced no support for the Awami League,
supporting tacitly or openly Bhutto and the democratic socialists, such as Jalaludin Abdur Rahim, an
influential Bengali in Pakistan and mentor of Bhutto[11] who was later thrown into jail by Bhutto, and
Ghulam Azam of the Jamaat-e-Islami in East Pakistan.
Several notable people from West Pakistan supported handing over power to the Awami league, such as
the poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz and rights activist Malik Ghulam Jilani, father of Asma Jahangir and G.M
Syed the founder of Sindhi nationalist party Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM).
Elections in West Pakistan

However, the political position in West Pakistan was completely different from East Pakistan. In West
Pakistan, the population was divided between different ideological forces. The right-wing parties, led
under Abul Maududi, raised the religious slogans and initially campaigned on an Islamic platform,
further promising to enforce Sharia laws in the country. Meanwhile, the founding party of Pakistan and
the national conservative Muslim League, that although was divided into three factions (QML, CML,
MLC), campaigned on a nationalist platform, promising to initiate the Jinnah reforms as originally
envisioned by Jinnah and others in the 1940s. The factions however criticised each other for disobeying
the rules laid down by the country's founding father.
The dynamic leadership and charismatic personality of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was highly active and
influential in West Pakistan during these days. Bhutto's socialistic ideas and the famous slogan "Roti
Kapra Aur Makaan" ("Food, Clothing and Shelter") attracted poor communities, students, and the
working class to his party. Under Bhutto's leadership the democratic socialists, leftists, and marxist-
communists gathered and united into one party platform for the first time in Pakistan's history. Bhutto
and the socialist-leftists attracted the people of the West to participate and vote for the Peoples Party
based on a broad hope for a better future for their children and families. As compared to the right-wing
and conservatives in West Pakistan, Bhutto and his allied leftists and democratic socialists won most of
the popular vote, becoming the pre-eminent players in the politics of the West.
Nominations
A total of 1,957 candidates filed nomination papers for 300 National Assembly seats. After scrutiny and
withdrawals, 1,579 eventually contested the elections. The Awami League ran 170 candidates, of which
162 were for constituencies in East Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami had the second-highest number of
candidates with 151. The Pakistan Peoples Party ran only 120 candidates, of which 103 were from
constituencies in Punjab and Sindh, and none in East Pakistan. The PML (Convention) ran 124
candidates, the PML (Council) 119 and the PML (Qayyum) 133.
Voter turnout
The government claimed a high level of public participation and a voter turnout of almost 63%. The total
number of registered voters in the country was 56,941,500 of which 31,211,220 were from East Pakistan
and 25,730,280 were from West Pakistan.
Results
National Assembly
Party Votes % Seats

Awami League 12,937,162 39.2 160
Pakistan Peoples Party 6,148,923 18.6 81
Jamaat-e-Islami 1,989,461 6.0 4
Council Muslim League 1,965,689 6.0 7
Muslim League (Qayyum) 1,473,749 4.5 9
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam 1,315,071 4.0 7
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan 1,299,858 3.9 7
Convention Muslim League 1,102,815 3.3 2
National Awami Party (W) 801,355 2.4 6
Pakistan Democratic Party 737,958 2.2 1
Other parties 387,919 1.2 0
Independents 2,322,341 7.0 16
Total 33,004,065 100 300
Nohlen et al.[13]
Provincial Assemblies
East Pakistan
After all 300 constituencies had been declared, the results were:
Party Seats Seat change

Awami League (AL) 288
Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) 2
National Awami Party (W) (NAP-W) 1
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) 1
Others 1
Independents 7
Total 300 N/A
↓
288 12
AL Other
Punjab

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 113
Convention Muslim League (CML) 15
Muslim League (Qayyum) (QML) 6
Council Muslim League 6
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) 4
Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) 4
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) 2
Others 1
Independent 28
Total 180 N/A
↓
113 15 6 46
PPP CML QML Other
Sindh
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) 7
Others 1
Independent 14
Total 60 N/A
↓
28 7 5 12
PPP JUP QML Other
North-West Frontier Province


Council Muslim League 2
Others 0
Independent 6
Total 40 N/A
↓
13 10 4 13
NAP-W QML JI Other
Balochistan
Others 2
Independent 5
Total 20 N/A
↓
8 3 2 7
NAP-W QML JUI Other
Aftermath
The elected Assembly initially did not meet as President Yahya Khan and the Pakistan Peoples Party did
not want the majority party from East Pakistan forming government. This caused great unrest in East
Pakistan which soon escalated into the call for independence on March 26, 1971 and ultimately led to
war of independence with East Pakistan becoming the independent state of Bangladesh. The Assembly
session was eventually held when Khan resigned four days after Pakistan surrendered in Bangladesh and
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took over. Bhutto became the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1973, after the post was
recreated by the new Constitution.
References
1. Ian Talbot (1998). Pakistan: A Modern History (https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBs0Hd
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1.
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "The Agartala contacts
however did not provide solid evidence of a Mujib-India secessionist conspiracy in East
Pakistan"
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "It is now clear that Mujib
did hold secret discussions with local Indian leaders there in July 1962. Moreover, following
the 1965 war there were meetings between Awami League leaders and representatives of
the Indian Government at a number of secret locations."
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "When this duly arrived. the
western wing's nightmare scenario materialised: either a constitutional deadlock, or the
imposition in the whole of the country of the Bengalis' longstanding commitment to
unfettered democracy and provincial autonomy."
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "Yahya had made some
provision to safeguard the constitutional outcome through the promulgation of the Legal
Framework Order (LFO) on 30 March 1970. It set a deadline of 120 days for the framing of
a constitution by the National Assembly and reserved to the President the right to
authenticate it."
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "It would also have to
enshrine the following five principles: an Islamic ideology...and internal affairs and the
preservation of the territorial integrity of the country"
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "He also refused to
countenance intelligence service reports both of Mujib's aim to tear up the LFO after the
elections and establish Bangladesh and of India's growing involvement in the affairs of East
Pakistan."
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "From November 1969 until
the announcement of the national election results, he discounted the possibility of an Awami
League landslide in East Pakistan."
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "The regime also
increasingly favoured the Islam pasand (Islam loving) parties because of their conservatism
and attachment to the idea of a strong central government"
pKuaQC). St. Martin's Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-312-21606-1. "The JI itself warned that an
Awami League victory would mean the disintegration of Pakistan."
11. Owen Bennett-Jones (2003). Pakistan: Eye of the Storm. Yale University Press. pp. 146–
180. ISBN 978-0-300-10147-8.
12. "Idhar hum, udhar tum: Abbas Athar remembered - The Express Tribune" (https://tribune.co
m.pk/story/545869/idhar-hum-udhar-tum-abbas-athar-remembered/). The Express Tribune.
8 May 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
13. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data
handbook, Volume I, p686 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
External links
Detail Result (https://www.ecp.gov.pk/Documents/GE%2007-12-1970.pdf)
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1970 Pakistani General Elections

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Formate disponibile

1970 Pakistani general election

General elections were held in Pakistan

The elections were a fierce contest

The Awami League won a landslide

Parties and candidates

Election campaign in East Pakistan

Elections in West Pakistan

Party Votes % Seats

Party Seats Seat change

Party Seats Seat change

North-West Frontier Province

Party Seats Seat change

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1970_Pakistani_general_election&oldid=928214599"

This page was last edited on 27 November 2019, at 15:37 (UTC).

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