Madhya Bharat's only election

Congress swept princely-India's newest state in its only assembly election, before Madhya Bharat later joined Madhya Pradesh.

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The story

Madhya Bharat's only election

What happened

The Indian National Congress won a landslide victory in Madhya Bharat's only assembly election.

It won 75 of the 99 seats on offer, with room to spare.

Its nearest rival, the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, trailed far behind with 11 seats.

3 of the seats went to independent candidates.

What changed

This was the only Legislative Assembly election the state ever held.

Some of its constituencies used a multi-member design, where a single election contest could send more than one representative to the new assembly.

20 of the 79 constituencies used this design.

Altogether, Madhya Bharat's assembly grew to 99 members.

Notable numbers

A few numbers from the results stand out on their own.

The closest race was in Guna, Madhya Bharat, decided by just 14 votes.

The widest win was in Jaora, Madhya Bharat, where the winner finished 58.8% ahead of the runner-up.

Across the state, about 36.2% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot.

The most crowded contest was Pichhore Bhandair, Madhya Bharat, where 18 candidates competed for a single seat.

The backdrop

The state itself had a short life, formed from a merger of princely states in central India, with Gwalior and Indore as joint capitals.

Historical context
Madhya Bharat Formed 1948, Merged into Madhya Pradesh 1956

Madhya Bharat formed on 28 May 1948 from a merger of about 25 princely states previously in the Central India Agency, with Gwalior and Indore as joint capitals. It held one Legislative Assembly election, in 1951, before merging into Madhya Pradesh under the States Reorganisation Act on 1 November 1956.