Landed Aristocracy and the General Elections 1970 Mazhar Abbas ∗ Abstract What role had the landed aristocracy played in the general elections of 1970? With an objective of finding the role of landed aristocracy from party manifesto to oath taking in the National Assembly, this study addresses the above- mentioned question through an historical analysis of both primary and secondary data. This study reveals that notwithstanding the trust that international observer community placed in the elections of 1970, the major power players turned them into a controversial political enterprise. Unlike his predecessor, General Yahya Khan did not ban political parties in the General Elections, 1970. There were twenty four (24) major political parties at that time which drew their leadership from landed aristocrat class of the country. The election results revealed that more than 30 percent of the legislators of all the previous National Assemblies of Pakistan (1956, 1962, and 1966) and 35.41 percent of the Members of National Assembly (MNAs) after 1970 elections were landed aristocrats especially from the Punjab and Sindh. This class influenced the activities of political parties as well as national political life. ∗ Lecturer, Department of History & Pakistan Studies, Government College University, Faisalabad.