National Election of 1970

Election is a method of choosing among candidates for some posts or offices in the government, legislature and corporate bodies, by the vote of enfranchised to cast an open or secret ballot. The election 1954 to the provincial legislature in East Bengal was the first to be held on the basis of universal franchise and last on the basis of separate electorates. 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 People’s Party, a leftist and democratic socialist party which had been a major power-broker in West Pakistan.

Pakistan was created in 1947, during the Partition of India. Its territory comprised most of the Muslim-majority provinces of British India, including two geographically and culturally separate areas, one east of India and the other west. The western zone was called West Pakistan; the eastern zone was called East Bengal and then East Pakistan. West Pakistan dominated the country politically, and its leaders exploited the East economically, leading to popular grievances. When East Pakistanis were elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, they were swiftly deposed by the predominantly West Pakistani establishment. The military dictatorships of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan both West Pakistanis worsened East Pakistanis discontent. In 1966, the Bangladesh Awami League, led by the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, launched the Six Point Movement to demand provincial autonomy for East Pakistan. The Pakistani establishment rejected the leagues proposals, and the military government arrested Sheikh Mujib and charged him with treason in the Agartala Conspiracy Case. After three years in jail, Mujib was released in 1969, and the case against him was dropped in the face of mass protests and widespread violence in East Pakistan.

President Ayub Khan resigned his post on march 25, 1969. Yahia Khan succeeded him as the next dictator. In a statement on 28 march, he promise to hold a general election, but the people were confusion because previously no general election was called by the despotic ruler. No law was enacted to run the country smoothly, moreover the autocrat Ayoub trick fully hold the power again in the name of basic democracy. Finally on 7 December 1970, the general election was held for the first time in Pakistan on the basis of ‘one person one vote’. The Awami League, the NAP, the Muslim League, the Pakistan People’s Party, the Democratic Party, the Jamat-e- Islami and some other political parties took part in the election. The Awami League termed this election as a referendum in favor of 6 point demands. 3 crore and 22 lakh out of 5 crore and 64 lakh voters belonged to East Pakistan. In the central parliament election held on 7 December 1970, the Awami League bagged 167 (with 7 female seats) out of 169 seats preserved for East Pakistan. In the election of provincial assembly held on 17 December, the Awami League got 288 out of 300 seats. The landslide victory of the Awami League was unprecedented. They got the verdict of the people in favour of 6 point demands and the formation of government.

The Awami League achieved the landslide victory in the national and provincial assembly. So it was authenticated that the people supported the 6 and 11 point demands. The Bengali nationalism marked a political victory. On the other hand it was a big blow to the Pakistani rulers. So they started hatching new plot against the Bengalis not to hand over the power to the elected body. The people of East Pakistan stood firmly against the dictatorship of West Pakistan.

The significance of the election in emerging an independent Bangladesh in 1971 becomes clear. It also played a vital role to transform the spirit of freedom. As a result, a new country named Bangladesh emerged and secured her place in the world map.