| Election Name: | Maharashtra State Assembly Elections, 1972 |
| Country: | India |
| Type: | Legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1967 Maharashtra State Assembly election |
| Previous Year: | 1967 |
| Next Election: | 1978 Maharashtra State Assembly election |
| Next Year: | 1978 |
| Seats For Election: | All 270 assembly constituencies to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly |
| Election Date: | 5 March 1972 |
| Turnout: | 60.63% (4.21%) |
| Party1: | Indian National Congress |
| Last Election1: | 203 seats, 47.03% |
| Seats1: | 222 |
| Popular Vote1: | 8,535,832 |
| Seat Change1: | 19 |
| Percentage1: | 56.36% |
| Swing1: | 9.33% |
| Party2: | Peasants and Workers Party of India |
| Last Election2: | 19 seats, 7.80% |
| Seats2: | 7 |
| Popular Vote2: | 856,986 |
| Seat Change2: | 12 |
| Percentage2: | 5.66% |
| Swing2: | 2.14% |
| Chief Minister | |
| Before Election: | Vasantrao Naik |
| Before Party: | Indian National Congress |
| After Election: | Vasantrao Naik |
| After Party: | Indian National Congress |
| Majority Seats: | 136 |
The 1972 Maharashtra State Assembly election was held in March 1972 for the fourth term of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha. A total of 270 seats were contested.[1]
The Indian National Congress won the largest number of seats and a majority. Vasantrao Naik, the incumbent Chief Minister was reelected. S. K. Wankhede became Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Ramkrishna Vyankatesh Bet became Deputy Speaker. Dinkar Balu Patil became the leader of the opposition.[2]
| Colspan=2 | Party | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| Colspan=4 | National Parties | |
| Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh | BJS | |
| SWA | ||
| INC(R) | ||
| Indian National Congress (Organisation) | INC(O) | |
| Socialist Party of India | SOP | |
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | CPM | |
| CPI | ||
| Colspan=4 | State Parties | |
| IUML | ||
| BKD | ||
| Peasants and Workers Party | PWP | |
| AIFB | ||
| RPI | ||
| Colspan=4 | Registered (Unrecognised) Parties | |
| HMS | ||
| SHS | ||
| Republican Party of India (Khobragade) | RPK/RPI(K) | |
!colspan=10||- align=center!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" class="unsortable"|!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=center|Political Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |No. of candidates
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |No. of elected
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |Seat change
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |Number of Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |% of Votes
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" |Change in
vote %|-| |align="left"|Indian National Congress||271||222|| 19||8,535,832||56.36%|| 9.33%|-| |align="left"|Peasants and Workers Party of India||58||7|| 12||856,986||5.66%|| 2.14%|-| |align="left"|Bharatiya Jana Sangh||122||5|| 1||947,266||6.25%|| 1.92%|-| |align="left"|Samyukta Socialist Party/Socialist Party||52||3|| 1||693,797||4.58%|| 0.03%|-| |align="left"|Republican Party of India||118||2|| 3||570,533||3.77%|| 2.89%|-| |align="left"|Communist Party of India||44||2|| 8||412,857||2.73%|| 2.14%|-| |align="left"|All India Forward Bloc||26||2|| 2||363,547||2.40%|| 2.40% (New Party)|-| |align="left"|Shiv Sena||26||1|| 1||279,210||1.84%|| 1.84% (New Party)|-| |align="left"|Communist Party of India (Marxist)||20||1||||117,134||0.77%|| 0.31%|-| |align="left"|Bharatiya Kranti Dal||2||1|| 1||31,508||0.21%|| 0.21% (New Party)|-| |align="left"|Indian Union Muslim League||1||1|| 1||27,138||0.18%|| 0.18% (New Party)|-| | align="left"|Republican Party of India (Khobragade)| 56| 0| (New Party)| 202,935| 1.34%| 1.34% (New Party)|-| | align="left"|Indian National Congress (Organisation)| 49| 0| (Split in INC)| 162,433| 1.07%| (Split in INC)|-| | 5| 0| | 14,269| 0.09%| 1.03%|-| |align="left"|Independents||343||23|| 7||1,920,667||12.68%|| 1.89%|-style="background-color:#E9E9E9"||align="left"|Total||1196||270||||15,146,171||60.63%|| 4.21%|-|}
The following is a partial list of winning candidates.[3]
| Constituency Name | Member of Legislative Assembly | Political party | "align=right" | Votes polled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teosa | Sharad Tasre | |||
| Achalpur | N S Deshmukh | |||
| Amgaon | Swarupchand Ajmera | |||
| Dhobi Talav | Mohanlal Popat | |||
| Girgaon | Pramod Navalkar | Shiv Sena, w Indian National Congress support | ||
| Guhagar | Shridhar Natu | |||
| Khetwadi | Anant Namjoshi | |||
| Malad | Mrinal Gore | |||
| Malkapur | Arjun Wankhede | |||
| Maval | Krishnarao Bhegade | |||
| Nagpur Central | Navalchand Toksiya | |||
| Nagpur West | Sushila Balraj | |||
| Pusad | Vasantrao Naik | |||
| Sakoli | Martand Kapgate | |||
| Shrivardhan | A R Antulay | |||
| Shukrawar Peth | Rambhau Mhalgi | |||
| Talode | Dilwar Singh Padawi | |||
| Walva | Rajaram-bapu Patil |
| Region | Total seats | Indian National Congress | Peasants and Workers Party of India | Bharatiya Jana Sangh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Maharashtra | 70 | 70 | - | - | |
| Vidarbha | 62 | 60 | 1 | 1 | |
| Marathwada | 46 | 31 | 3 | 3 | |
| Thane+Konkan | 39 | 37 | 1 | - | |
| Mumbai | 36 | 14 | - | - | |
| North Maharashtra | 35 | 14 | 2 | 1 | |
| Total[4] | 288 | 222 | 7 | 5 |