1946 Indian provincial elections

none April 2017 April 2017 1946 Indian provincial elections British India parliamentary no 1937 Indian provincial elections 1937 India (1952)→Pakistan (1951) 1946 1585 provincial seats contested File:Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1988 stamp of India (cropped).jpg 100px Abul Kalam Azad Indian National Congress Did not contest 923 Jinnah1945c.jpg 100px Muhammad Ali Jinnah Byculla AIML 425 All-India Muslim League 300px Provincial elections were held in British India in January 1946 to elect members of the legislative councils of the Indian provinces.Vohra Ranbir 2013 First published 1997 The Making of India: A Political History https://books.google.com/books?id=3oXLluy2m_MC&pg=PA177 3rd M. E. Sharpe 176 978-0-7656-2985-2 The Congress, in a repeat of the 1937 elections, won 90% of the general non-Muslim seats, while the Muslim League won the 87% of the Muslim seats in the provinces. Voting in this election was restricted on property-owning qualifications.Stern, R. W. (2001). Democracy and dictatorship in South Asia: dominant classes and political outcomes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Greenwood Publishing Group. p=37 Vanderbok, W., & Sisson, R. (1988). Parties and Electorates from Raj to Swaraj: An Historical Analysis of Electoral Behavior in Late Colonial and Early Independent India. Social Science History, 12(2), 121-142. doi:10.1017/S0145553200016084Palshikar, S. (2006). The Promise of Democracy:'Democracy'in the Pre-independence India. Project on State of Democracy in South Asia as part of the Qualitative Assessment of Democracy Lokniti (Programme of Comparative Democracy). Delhi: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The franchise under Government of India Act 1935 was quite limited compared to universal suffrage and less than 10% of the population in provinces under direct British control were eligible to vote based on their property and income.Vanderbok, W., & Sisson, R. (1988). Parties and Electorates from Raj to Swaraj: An Historical Analysis of Electoral Behavior in Late Colonial and Early Independent India. Social Science History, 12(2), 121-142. doi:10.1017/S0145553200016084Palshikar, S. (2006). The Promise of Democracy:'Democracy'in the Pre-independence India. Project on State of Democracy in South Asia as part of the Qualitative Assessment of Democracy Lokniti (Programme of Comparative Democracy). Delhi: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The All India Muslim League verified its claim to be the sole representative of Muslim population in British India, despite the majority of the Muslim population not being able to vote.Sajjad M. Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours Taylor & Francis 2014 978-1-317-55981-8 https://books.google.com/books?id=qiRHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT221 id 2024-08-14 221-222Barbara Metcalf Thomas Metcalf A Concise History of Modern India http://apnaorg.com/books/english/concise-history-india/concise-history-india.pdf 2nd 2006 Cambridge University Press 212–213 978-0-511-24558-9 The Muslim League, on its part, won all 30 reserved Muslim seats in the central legislature, and 442 of the 500 Muslim seats in the provincial assemblies. In striking contrast to its dismal showing in 1937, the League had now made good on Jinnah’s claim that the League, and the League alone, represented India’s Muslims.Ian Talbot GuSingh The Partition of India https://books.google.com/books?id=-13aHAAACAAJ 23 July 2009 Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-85661-4 36 The election laid the path to Pakistan.https://www.dawn.com/news/1105473/the-election-that-created-pakistan The election that created Pakistan Dawn Nadeem F. Paracha 11 May 2014 20 August 2019https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Jinnahs-constituency-gears-up-for-elections/articleshow/4961005.cms Jinnah's constituency gears up for elections The Times of India 1 September 2009 Mateen Hafeez 20 August 2019 These elections were followed by 1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election where Congress, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, secured major victory. Following this, the Interim Government of India, headed by Nehru, was formed in September 1946. Background On 19 September 1945, following negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the 1946 Cabinet Mission to India from the United Kingdom, the Viceroy Lord Wavell announced that elections to the provincial and central legislatures would be held from December 1945 to January 1946. It was also announced that an executive council would be formed and a constitution-making body would be convened after these elections.Sen S. N. 1997 History of the Freedom Movement in India (1857–1947) https://books.google.com/books?id=hssXP1hBYscC&pg=PA318 3rd New Age International 317 978-81-224-1049-5 These elections were important, as the provincial assemblies thus formed were to then elect a new Constituent Assembly, which would begin formulating a Constitution for an independent India. All contesting parties began campaigning. The Indian National Congress represented almost the entire Hindu population, while the Muslim League professed to speak for the whole Muslim population.Khan Yasmin Yasmin Khan 2007 The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan registration Yale University Press 31 978-0-300-12078-3 While the Congress claimed to speak for all Indians, irrespective of religion, the League claimed to be the mouthpiece of all Muslims. The dominant issue of the election campaign became the issue of Pakistan.Khan Yasmin Yasmin Khan 2007 The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan registration Yale University Press 32 978-0-300-12078-3 Before long, though, economic issues were supplanted by a more trenchant issue. The campaigning focal point quickly emerged as Pakistan.Sebestyen Victor Victor Sebestyen 1946: The Making of the Modern World https://books.google.com/books?id=8sH4AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT246 2014 Pan Macmillan UK 978-1-74353-456-4 246– ...it became a plebiscite on one issue: whether Muslims should be granted a separate state, Pakistan – 'land of the pure'. Overwhelmingly, the Muslims voted in favor. Originally, the Muslim League had been a party that received most of its support from the Muslim-minority provinces, where manufactured fear of Hindu 'domination' was greater, as was a sort of a sense of 'loss of privilege', and to showcase its argument for Muslim nationhood, the League needed support from both Muslim-majority as well as Muslim-minority provinces. In the election campaign, the League resorted to establishing networks with traditional power bases, such as landowners and the religious elite, in the Muslim-majority provinces to win support. Religious slogans were utilized, and the term 'Pakistan' was put forward. Some scholars state that the meaning of Pakistan was kept vague so that it meant different things to different people.Pande Aparna Explaining Pakistan's Foreign Policy: Escaping India https://books.google.com/books?id=ceg-kSmft94C&pg=PA11 2011 Routledge 978-1-136-81894-3 11- Notwithstanding the ambiguities, Venkat Dhulipala argues that the proposals for Pakistan were vigorously debated in public, maps were printed, economic foundations were analysed, and Pakistan was envisioned as an Islamic state.Dhulipala Venkat Creating a New Medina https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z6TBQAAQBAJ&pg=PG194 2015 Cambridge University Press 194 978-1-107-05212-3 Dhulipala, Creating a New Medina 2015Talbot Ian Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India. By Venkat Dhulipala The Journal of Asian Studies 74 4 2015 1054–1055 0021-9118 10.1017/S0021911815001461 165006865 The Muslim League's support for the United Kingdom's war efforts during World War II had nurtured the possibility of establishing a Muslim nation.Tucker S.C. The Cold War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes] Bloomsbury Publishing 2020 979-8-216-06249-3 https://books.google.com/books?id=vZX3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1567 1567 Jinnah's Muslim League strongly supported the Allied war effort and thereby greatly advanced the possibility of the creation of a separate Muslim state in the Indian subcontinent after the war. In contrast to earlier elections, the religious commitment was intertwined with a declaration of Muslim communal unity. Casting the vote became an Islamic act.Metcalf Barbara Metcalf Thomas A Concise History of Modern India http://apnaorg.com/books/english/concise-history-india/concise-history-india.pdf 2nd 2006 Cambridge University Press 214 978-0-511-24558-9 Consequently, for the Muslim electorate, Pakistan represented both a nation-state for India's Muslims, but one that surpassed the common state structure, and an awakening of an Islamic polity where Islam would be blended with the state's functioning.Metcalf Barbara Metcalf Thomas A Concise History of Modern India http://apnaorg.com/books/english/concise-history-india/concise-history-india.pdf 2nd 2006 Cambridge University Press 215 978-0-511-24558-9 However, only 13% of the Muslims were allowed to vote in this election, and "even educated Muslims did not know what Pakistan meant or implied". The voting in this election was restricted on property-owning qualifications. Results Of the total of 1585 seats, the Indian National Congress won 923 (58.23%),W. W. J. April 1946 The Indian Elections – 1946 The World Today 2 4 167–175 40391905 and the All-India Muslim League won 429 seats out of 492 Muslim reserved seats (26.81% of the total), placing it as the second-ranking party. It captured all Muslim constituencies in the central assembly as well as most of the Muslim constituencies in the provincial legislatures.Barbara D. Metcalf Thomas R. Metcalf 2012 A Concise History of Modern India https://books.google.com/books?id=c7UgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA212 Cambridge University Press 213– 978-0-511-24558-9.Brown Judith Margaret Judith M. Brown Modern India: the origins of an Asian democracy https://books.google.com/books?id=Eq7tAAAAMAAJ 1994 Oxford University Press 328–329 978-0-19-873112-2 The acquiescence of the politically aware (though possibly not of many villagers even at this point) would have been seriously in doubt if the British had displayed any intention of staying in India. The vote opened the path to Pakistan.Sajjad M. Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours Taylor & Francis 2014 978-1-317-55981-8 https://books.google.com/books?id=qiRHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT221 221 The system of separate electorates ensured that Muslim contestants would compete with other Muslim candidates instead of facing non-Muslim contestants. Thus, the establishment of Pakistan was debated mainly among Muslims themselves.David Gilmartin Barbara D. Metcalf Islam in South Asia in Practice https://books.google.com/books?id=pR0LzVCpfw8C&pg=PA410 2009 Princeton University Press 978-1-4008-3138-8 410– Muslim League Appeals to the Voters of Punjab The Muslim League's biggest success was in Bengal, where out of 119 seats for Muslims, it won 113. The League reinforced its vote in the Muslim minority provinces. It won 54 out of 64 Muslim seats in the United Provinces and 34 of Bihar's 40 Muslim seats. It captured all Muslim seats in Bombay and Madras. The party demonstrated that it was the representative of Muslim India. The Communist Party of India had presented 108 candidates, out of whom only 8 won a seat. The setback came as a result of the decision of the party not to support the Quit India movement of 1942.Sharma, Shalini 2010 Radical Politics in Colonial Punjab: Governance and Sedition https://books.google.com/books?id=jiATbhiMY54C&pg=PA7 Routledge 7 978-0-203-86969-7 Seven out of the eight seats it won were reserved for labour representatives. All in all, the Communist Party obtained 2.5% of the popular vote. Albeit far from competing with the two main parties, the communists became the third force in terms of the popular vote.Gene D. Overstreet Marshall Windmiller 1959 Communism in India https://books.google.com/books?id=PAFBW743Bi4C&pg=PA236 University of California Press 236–237 502979 Among the communist candidates elected were Jyoti Basu (railways constituency in Bengal), Ratanlal Brahmin (Darjeeling), and Rupnarayan Roy (Dinajpur).Samāddāra, Raṇabīra 2007 The Materiality of Politics https://books.google.com/books?id=RoQ1-4jk6OkC&pg=PA45 Anthem Press 45 978-1-84331-276-5 The results for the North-West Frontier Province came through in March. Congress achieved a strong majority, largely due to the personality of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, enabling them to form a government without trouble. In Punjab, the concerted effort of the Muslim League led to its greatest success, winning 75 seats of the total Muslim seats and becoming the largest single party in the Assembly. The Unionist Party suffered heavy losses, winning only 20 seats in total. The Congress was the second-largest party, winning 43 seats, whilst the Sikh-centric Akali Dal came third with 22 seats. The INC, Akalis, and Khizar Hayat Khan's Unionist Party kept the League out of government by forming the Punjab Coalition Party. This was controversial both among supporters of the INC, who previously had decried Khizar Khan as a reactionary, and with Jinnah, who denounced the 'Khizar-led Quisling ministry' as 'an insult to the determined will of the Mussulmans and a blot on the fair name of [the Punjab]'.Roy Kaushik Partition of India: why 1947? 2012 Oxford University Press 978-0-19-807760-2 Debates in Indian history and society New Delhi Oxford (GB) 218 In Assam, Congress won all the general seats, and most of those were reserved for special interests, thus forming the local government. The Muslim League won all the Muslim seats. In the Muslim-majority province of Sind, the Muslim League won the most seats. Congress, however, also achieved strong results and initially hoped to form a coalition in government with four Muslims who had defected from the Muslim League. At the last minute, one of the four Muslim dissidents went over to the Muslim League, handing them a majority of one. Congress then lobbied three European members, who would swing the balance of power into their favour, but their overtures were rejected. The Governor of Sind, therefore, asked the Muslim League to form the local government. Legislative assemblies ProvinceCongressMuslim LeagueOther partiesIndependentsTotalAssam5831Europeans 9 Others 37108Bengal86113Europeans 25 Others 1214250Bihar9834812152Bombay12530218175Central Provinces9213 7112Madras16328Communist Party of India 2Andrew Wyatt 2010 Party System Change in South India: Political Entrepreneurs, Patterns, and Processes https://books.google.com/books?id=V9RHlzMCiasC&pg=PA56 Routledge 56 978-0-203-86220-922215North West Frontier Province301721 50Orissa474 9 60Punjab5173Akalis 22Unionist Party 20Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam 27 175Sind1828104 60United Provinces15354714 228Total 923 425 123 114 1585 https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/fullscreen.html?object=110 -- Schwartzberg Atlas -- Digital South Asia Library dsal.uchicago.edu 20 February 2021 7 January 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210107120130/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/fullscreen.html?object=110 dead Overall Muslim League performance According to Robert Stern, religious fervour played a part in the League's victory. In Punjab also, religious appeal was the factor in the battle between the league and the Muslim members of the Unionist party who were not interested in Pakistan.Robert W. Stern Democracy and Dictatorship in South Asia: Dominant Classes and Political Outcomes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh https://books.google.com/books?id=r8ZQaJGkPiEC&pg=PP11 2001 Greenwood Publishing Group 978-0-275-97041-3 27 ProvinceMuslim SeatsMuslim League Win %Assam343191%Bengal11911395%Bihar403485%Bombay3030100%Central Provinces141393%Madras2929100%NWFP361747%Orissa44100%Punjab867486%Sind342882%United Provinces665482%Total 492 429 87% Compared to the above table, Indian Annual Register, 1946, vol. I shows a different scenario.August 1946 The Annual Register Nature 158 4008 254 10.1038/158254d0 1946Natur.158R.254. 0028-0836 freeMitra Nripendra Nath August 1946 The Indian Annual Register PDF https://library.bjp.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/509/1/The-Indian-Annual-Register-Jan-June-1946-Vol.1.pdf BJP Library 2026-03-04 There are some differences between the results of the two sources. ProvinceCongressMuslim LeagueOthersTotal seatsAssam583119108Bengal8611351250Bihar983420152Bombay1253020175C.P.921371112Madras1652921215N.W.F.P3017350Orissa474960Punjab517351175Sind18271560U.P.1545421228Source: N. N. Mitra (ed.), Indian Annual Register, 1946, vol. I, pp. 230–231. Chatterji, J. (2002). Bengal divided: Hindu communalism and partition, 1932-1947 (No. 57). Cambridge University Press.Chatterji Joya Bengal divided : Hindu communalism and partition, 1932-1947 1994 Cambridge University Press 0-521-41128-9 Cambridge [England] 28710875 Aftermath 1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election These elections were followed by 1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election where Congress, under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, secured major victory. The Congress formed its ministries in Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces, Madras, NWFP, Orissa, and United Provinces. The Muslim League formed its ministries in Bengal and Sind. A coalition government consisting of the Congress, Unionist Party, and the Akalis was formed in Punjab Province.https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=260&view=text Schwartzberg Atlas A Historical Atlas of South Asia Joseph E. Schwartzberg 10 February 2017 12 July 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20220712174110/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=260&view=text dead Members of the Constituent Assembly of India were selected through an indirect election by the elected legislators in the 1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election, conducted under the British government's Cabinet Mission plan.Assembling India's Constitution: Towards a New History Rohit De Ornit Shani 263 2024 206 10.1093/pastj/gtad009 Past & Present Oxford University Press free The Interim Government of India was formed after these elections. Punjab Province A well-documented account of how the coalition government − under popular Punjabi Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh leaders such as Khizar Hayat Tiwana, Chhotu Ram, and Tara Singh − led by the secular Unionist Party in Punjab Province collapsed as a result of a massive campaign launched by the then Punjab Muslim League has been given by Sharma, Madhulika.Sharma Madhulika 2012-12-13 The Punjab bloodied, partitioned and cleansed: unravelling the 1947 tragedy through secret British reports and first-person accounts edited by Ishtiaq Ahmed http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2012.745746 Asian Ethnicity 14 3 381–383 10.1080/14631369.2012.745746 147877672 1463-1369 subscription AIML (Punjab) deemed the coalition government 'non-representative' and thought it was their right to bring such a government down (notwithstanding the fact that it was a legal and democratically elected government). AIML (P) called for a 'Civil Disobedience' movement − fully backed by Mr. Jinnah and Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, after they had failed to enlist Sikh support to help form an AIML-led government in Punjab. This led to bloody communal riots in Punjab during the later part of 1946. By early 1947, the law and order situation in the province came to such a point where civil life was utterly paralyzed. It was under such circumstances that the Premier of Punjab (Chief minister), Khizar Hayat Tiwana of the coalition-led Unionist Party, was forced to resign on 2 March 1947. His cabinet was dissolved the same day. As there was no hope left for any other government to be formed to take the place of the Khizer government, the then Punjab Governor Sir Evan Jenkins imposed Governor's rule in Punjab on 5 March, which continued up to the partition day, that is, 15 August 1947. Akali-Dall Sikhs, with 22 seats, were major stakeholders in the coalition along with Congress (51) and the Unionist Party (20), who were infuriated over the dissolution of the Khizer Government. It was in this backdrop that on 3 March 1947, Akali Sikh leader Master Tara Singh brandished his kirpan outside the Punjab Assembly, saying openly, "down with Pakistan and blood be to the one who demands it". From this day onwards, Punjab was engulfed in such bloody communal riots that history had never witnessed before. Eventually, Punjab had to be partitioned into the Indian and Pakistani Punjab. In the process, a huge number of people were massacred, millions were forced to cross over and become refugees, and thousands of women were abducted, raped, and killed across all religious communities in Punjab. References Category:Indian independence movement Category:Pakistan Movement Category:Political history of India Category:Political history of Pakistan Category:1946 elections in India Category:1946 in British India Category:Provincial Assembly elections in British India Category:January 1946 in Asia