Jaya Bachchan was the original choice for the lead role. She declined it suggested they sign Poonam Dhillon. Poonam was too young for the role so Shabana Azmi was signed
Inquilaab, Yeh Desh and Aaj Ka MLA were all remakes of the south Indian movies based on corruption in politics.. They all competed with each other to release their film first. Inquilab was able to win the race, but ultimately, all three movies flopped.
Sanjeev Kumar was signed for Shatrughan Sinha's role but Rajesh Khanna was able to convince the producers to drop him.
The film was initially titled "Prime Minister".
The initial title of the film was to be "Mawaali M.L.A" but this was later changed as it was deemed inappropriate and disrespectful to actual M.L.A.'s.