1952 Odisha Legislative Assembly election

1952 Odisha Legislative Assembly election

27 March 1952 1957 →
All 140 seats in the Odisha Legislative Assembly 71 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	38.36%
First party Second party   Leader Nabakrushna Choudhury Shraddhakar Supakar Party INC All India Ganatantra Parishad Leader's seat Barchana Sambalpur-Rairakhol Seats won 67 31 Popular vote 13,92,501 7,53,685 Percentage 37.87% 22.50%
Elected CM Nabakrushna Choudhury INC

Elections to the Odisha Legislative Assembly were held on 27 March 1952. This election was officially known as the 1951 Odisha Legislative Assembly election, even though through delays, actual voting didn't take place until early 1952.^[1]

6 National parties along with All India Ganatantra Parishad and 3 registered unrecognized parties took part in the assembly election. Indian National Congress emerged as the single largest party while All India Gantantra Parishad emerged as the main opponent to the Congress party.^[1]

The 1952 Odisha Legislative Assembly election comprised a total of 107 constituencies. Of these, 91 were General constituencies and 16 were reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). The General constituencies included 58 single-member seats and 33 double-member seats, while all 16 ST constituencies were single-member.

The constituency with the fewest contestants was Balligudda, with only one candidate, while the constituency with the most contestants was Aska, with 15 candidates.^[1]

The total number of registered electors for the election was 7,598,161. Of this, 6,730,261 electors were from the General constituencies, and 867,900 were from the ST constituencies.^[1]

Summary of results of the 1952 Odisha Legislative Assembly election^[1]

Parties		Flag	Seats Contested	Seats Won	Votes	% of Votes
National Parties
	Communist Party of India		33	7	2,06,757	5.62%
	Forward Bloc (Marxist Group)		2	1	12,874	0.35%
	Forward Bloc (Ruikar Group)		1	0	2,779	0.08%
	Indian National Congress		135	67	13,92,501	37.87%
	Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party		7	0	16,948	0.46%
	Socialist Party		79	10	4,32,731	11.77%
State Parties
	All India Ganatantra Parishad		58	31	7,53,685	20.50%
Registered (Unrecognised) Parties
	Peoples Independent Party		1	0	11,895	0.32%
	Pursharathi Panchayat		1	0	1,841	0.05%
	Radical Democrat Party		1	0	1,589	0.04%
Independents
	Independent		204	24	8,43,446	22.94%
Total				140	36,77,046	100%

In these elections, Congress emerged as the largest party, but did not get majority to form the government. Nabakrushna Choudhuri of the Congress party became the first Chief Minister of Odisha, after a series of re-alignments among independents.

• 1951–52 elections in India
• 1957 Odisha Legislative Assembly election