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1973 Bangladeshi general election

1973 Bangladeshi general election

← 1970 7 March 1973 (1973-03-07) 1979 →
300 of the 315 seats in the Jatiya Sangsad 151 seats needed for a majority
Registered	35,205,642
Turnout	54.91%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Serajul Alam Khan Ataur Rahman Khan Party AL JSD BJL Last election 288 seats – 0 seats Seats won 293 1 1 Seat change 5 New 1 Popular vote 13,798,717 1,229,110 62,354 Percentage 73.20% 6.52% 0.33%
Prime Minister before election Sheikh Mujibur Rahman AL Subsequent Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman AL

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General elections were held in newly independent Bangladesh on 7 March 1973. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Awami League, who won 293 of the 300 directly elected seats, including eleven constituencies where they were elected unopposed without a vote.^[1][2] Voter turnout was 55%.

Though the Awami League was already the clear favourite before the elections, Sheikh Mujib's government put major effort into winning every seat. This led to a nearly complete obliteration of the opposition, with most of the leadership of opposition parties failing to win seats, including Major Jalil (Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal), Rashed Khan Menon, Kazi Zafar Ahmed and Aleem al-Razee (National Awami Party (Bhashani)), and Suranjit Sengupta (National Awami Party (Muzaffar)).^[3]

Prior to the elections, some opposition candidates in marginal constituencies were kidnapped by Awami League supporters before they were able to submit their nomination papers. In some constituencies where opposition candidates were leading in the vote count, counting was abruptly stopped, ballot boxes were stuffed with fake papers, and the Awami League candidates were declared winners amid the strong presence of Awami League volunteers.^[4]

However, it was generally believed that Awami League, with the appeal of its leader Sheikh Mujib and its instrumental role in the independence of Bangladesh, would have easily won the elections without manipulation.^[4]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				General	Reserved	Total	+/–
	Awami League	13,798,717	73.20	293	15	308	+10
	National Awami Party (Muzaffar)	1,569,299	8.32	0	0	0	New
	Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal	1,229,110	6.52	1	0	1	New
	National Awami Party (Bhashani)	1,002,771	5.32	0	0	0	New
	Bangladesh Jatiya League	62,354	0.33	1	0	1	+1
	Bangla Jatiya League	53,097	0.28	0	0	0	New
	Communist Party of Bangladesh	47,211	0.25	0	0	0	New
	Sramik Krishak Samajbadi Dal	38,421	0.20	0	0	0	New
	Bangladesh Communist Party (Leninist)	18,619	0.10	0	0	0	New
	Bangladesh Shramik Federation	17,271	0.09	0	0	0	New
	Banglar Communist Party	11,911	0.06	0	0	0	New
	Bangla Chattra Union	7,564	0.04	0	0	0	New
	Bangladesh Jatiya Congress	3,761	0.02	0	0	0	New
	Jatiya Ganatantrik Dal	1,818	0.01	0	0	0	New
	Independents	989,884	5.25	5	0	5	–2
Total		18,851,808	100.00	300	15	315	+5
Valid votes		18,851,808	97.53
Invalid/blank votes		477,875	2.47
Total votes		19,329,683	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		35,205,642	54.91
Source: Nohlen et al., Government of Bangladesh, Kumar Panday

• List of members of the 1st Jatiya Sangsad