1920 Madras Presidency Legislative Council election

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1920 Madras Presidency legislative council election
British Raj Red Ensign.svg
November 1920 1923  →
98 seats in Madras Legislative Council
50 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Theagaroya Chetty.jpg
Leader P. Theagaroya Chetty
Party Justice Party Independent
Seats won6318
Percentage64.29%18.37%
Elected First Minister

A. Subbarayalu Reddiar
Justice Party

The first legislative council election to Madras Presidency after the establishment of dyarchical system of government by the Government of India Act 1919, was held in November 1920. Indian National Congress boycotted the election due to its participation in the Non-cooperation movement. The election occurred during the early stages of non-Brahmin movement and the major issue of the election was anti-Brahminism. Justice party won the election with no significant opposition and A. Subbarayalu Reddiar became the inaugural First Minister of the presidency. [1] [2]

Contents

Government of India Act, 1919

Based on the recommendations of the Montagu-Chelmsford report, the Government of India Act of 1919 was enacted. The Act enlarged the provincial legislative councils and increased the number of elected members more than nominated members and company officials. It introduced a system of dyarchy in the Provinces. Although this Act brought about representative Government in India, the Governor was empowered with overriding powers. It classified the subjects as belonging to either the Centre or the Provinces. The Governor General could override any law passed by the Provincial councils. It brought about the concept of "Partial Responsible Government" in the provinces. Provincial subjects were divided into two categories - reserved and transferred. Education, Sanitation, Local self-government, Agriculture and Industries were listed as the transferred subjects. Law, Finance, Revenue and Home affairs were the reserved subjects. The provincial council could decide the budget in so far it related to the transferred subjects. Executive machinery dealing with those subjects was placed under the direct control of provincial legislature. However, the provincial legislature and the ministers did not have any control over the reserved subjects, which came under the Governor and his Executive council. [3] [4] [5] [6] It introduced for the first time bicameralism and direct elections in the country. Thus the Indian legislative council was replaced by the bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council Of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly).

Constituencies

The Madras Legislative Council had a total of 127 members in addition to the ex - officio members of the Governor's Executive Council. Out of the 127, 98 were elected from 61 constituencies of the presidency. The constituencies comprised three arbitrary divisions - 1)communal constituencies such as non-Muhammadan urban, non-Muhammadan rural, non-Brahman urban, Mohamaddan urban, Mohamaddan rural, Indian Christian, European and Anglo-Indian 2)special constituencies such as landholders, Universities, planters and trade associations (South India Chamber of Commerce & Nattukottai Nagarathar Association) and 3) territorial constituencies. 28 of the constituencies were reserved for non-Brahmans. 29 members were nominated, out of whom a maximum of 19 would be government officials, 5 would represent the Paraiyar, Pallar, Valluvar, Mala, Madiga, Sakkiliar, Thottiyar, Cheruman and Holeya communities and 1 would represent the "backward tracts". Including the Executive Council members, the total strength of the legislature was 134. [3] [4] [5] [7]

Electorate and polling

The first general election was held during November 1920. [8] At the time of the election, Madras presidency had a population of 40 million people. The franchise was limited based on property qualifications. [7] 1,248,156 persons were eligible to vote, among whom 303,558 actually cast their votes. The Indian National Congress boycotted the election due to its participation in the Non-cooperation movement. The Hindu reported that polling was as low as 12% in some constituencies and no constituencies reported polling higher than 25%. [3] The city of Madras reported the highest turnout with 52% polling and Mylapore, a traditionally Brahmin area had an even higher turnout. The turnout was varied in rural areas, impacted by rain and flooding. The average turnout was 24.9% all over the Presidency. The Madras Mail reported that the turnout was low compared to elections for British parliament, but nonetheless, an impressive demonstration of growth of political consciousness. [9]

Results

In the absence of significant opposition, the Justice party was able to win 63 seats. [10] Party wise distribution of elected and non elected members: [9] [11]

PartyElectedNominated and ex officioTotal
Justice Party 63063
Indian National Congress Did not contestDid not contestDid not contest
Independent (politician)18018
Anti-ministerial17017
Officials01111
Non-Officials01818
Total9829127

The Justice party claimed the support of 18 non elected members bringing up its strength to 81 in the council. [8]

Analysis

The following table shows communal distribution of the elected and non-elected members. [9] [11]

PartyElectedNominated and ex officioTotal
Brahmans 17522
non-Brahmans 57865
Depressed classes055
Mohammadans13114
Indian Christians516
Europeans and Anglo-Indians6915
Total9829127

According to P. Rajaraman, the victory of the Justice party can be attributed to three factors - the election boycott of the Congress, which left the Justice party without any serious opponent, the vigorous campaign of Justice leaders and reservation of seats to non-brahman members. [8]

Government formation

At first, Governor Willingdon invited the wealthy P. Theagaroya Chetty, the leader of the justice party to form the government. He refused the offer as he did not like to be paid a salary from people's taxes. He recommended that A. Subbarayalu Reddiar, Ramarayaningar (Raja of Panagal) and Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu, all Telugu members, be made ministers. Reddiar was appointed as the First Minister and as the minister in charge of Education, Public works, Excise & Registration. Ramarayaningar became the minister of local self-government & Public health, while Venkata Reddy Naidu was given the Development portfolio. The ministers assumed office on 17 December 1920. Perungavur Rajagopalachari was appointed as the President of the legislative council and Edwin Periyanayakam, Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar & P. Subbarayan were made council secretaries. C. P. Ramaswami Iyer was appointed as the Advocate General. [8] [11] The Governor's Executive Council consisted of Sir Lionel Davidson (member for Home), Sir Charles Todhunter (Finance), Muhammad Habibullah (Revenue) and S. Srinivasa Iyengar (Law). [12] On 11 July 1921, Raja of Panagal took over as First Minister when Subbarayalu Reddiar resigned on health grounds and A. P. Patro, an Orissa lawyer was appointed as the minister of Education. [3] [13] [14] The council was dissolved at the end of its term on 11 September 1923.

Impact

The Justice party which came into existence in 1916 was able to capture power on social development and non-Brahmin platform. It would go on to rule Madras till the 1937 elections (with an interlude during 1926–30). Noting the significance of its victory, the Official review of the Government of India (1921–22) said:

For the first time in the history of India, the lower castes of Madras have asserted themselves against the intellectual oligarchy of the upper caste and have seized political power in their own hands...The first bulwark of caste dominance in political matters has been stormed as a result of the recent constitutional changes [8]

Some of the legislative initiatives of the first Justice Government have had a lasting impact and are still in practice in one form or another. On 16 September 1921, the Justice government passed the first communal government order (G. O. # 613), thereby becoming the first elected body in the Indian legislative history to legislate reservations, which have since become standard policy in India. [15] [16] [17] Similarly, the Madras Hindu Religious Endowment Act, introduced on 18 December 1922, brought many of the Hindu Temples under the direct control of the state government. This Act, which was eventually passed by the second Justice Government in 1925, set the precedent for several later Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR & CE) Acts and the current policy of the state of Tamil Nadu. [17] [18]

The Government of India Act of 1919 had restricted women from becoming legislators. The first Justice Government reversed this policy by moving a resolution in the council on 1 April 1921. The qualifications for becoming a member of the council were made gender neutral. This resolution cleared the way for Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi's nomination to the council in 1926, when she became the first woman to become a member of any legislature in India. [19] The Mid-day Meal Scheme, was first introduced in 1920 by the Madras Corporation with the approval of the legislative council, as a breakfast scheme in a corporation school at Thousand Lights, Madras. Later it was expanded to four more schools. This was the precursor to the free noon meal schemes introduced by K. Kamaraj in 1960's and expanded by M. G. Ramachandran in the 1980s. [20]

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Diarchy was established in Madras Presidency based on the recommendations of the Montague-Chelmsford report. Five elections were held during the period diarchy was in effect and Justice Party occupied power most of the time. It ended with the election in 1937 when the Government of India Act 1935 came into effect.

The Dravidian movement in British India started with the formation of the Justice Party on 20 November 1916 in Victoria Public Hall in Madras by C. Natesa Mudaliar along with T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahmins representation in government jobs. The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organisation to represent the non-Brahmins in Madras Presidency.

References

  1. ↑ "The Raja who became Chief Minister". The Hindu. 1 July 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Making of Adi Dravida Politics in Early Twentieth Century Tamil Nadu". Social Scientist. July 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 S. Krishnaswamy (1989). The role of Madras Legislature in the freedom struggle, 1861-1947. People's Pub. House (New Delhi). pp. 72–83.
  4. 1 2 "The State Legislature - Origin and Evolution". Tamil Nadu Government. Archived from the original on 13 April 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  5. 1 2 "Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly". Government of India. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  6. ↑ Rajaraman, P. (1988). The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916-37. Poompozhil Publishers. p. 206.
  7. 1 2 Mithra, H.N. (2009). The Govt of India ACT 1919 Rules Thereunder and Govt Reports 1920. BiblioBazaar. pp. 186–199. ISBN   978-1-113-74177-6.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Rajaraman, P. (1988). The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916-37. Poompozhil Publishers. pp. 212–220.
  9. 1 2 3 Eugene F. Irschick (1969). Political and Social Conflict in South India; The non-Brahman movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916-1929. University of California Press. pp. 178–180.
  10. ↑ Most of the candidates did not declare their party affiliation before the election. Only after the results were announced they declared themselves as Justicites.Hamsapriya, A (1981). Role of the opposition in the Madras legislature 1921-1939 (PDF). Madras University. p. 73. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 Saroja Sundararajan (1989). March to freedom in Madras Presidency, 1916-1947. Madras : Lalitha Publications. pp. 329–332.
  12. ↑ The Times of India directory and year book including who's who. Bennett & Coleman Ltd. 1922. p. 55.
  13. ↑ Ralhan, O. P. (2002). Encyclopaedia of Political Parties. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. pp. 179–80. ISBN   978-81-7488-865-5.
  14. ↑ Myron Weiner, Ergun Özbudun (1987). Competitive elections in developing countries. Duke University Press. p. 61. ISBN   0-8223-0685-9.
  15. ↑ "Tamil Nadu swims against the tide". The Statesman. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  16. ↑ Murugan, N. (9 October 2006). "RESERVATION (Part-2)". National. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  17. 1 2 Rajaraman, P. (1988). The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916-37. Poompozhil Publishers. pp. 255–260.
  18. ↑ "The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department". Department of HR & CE. Government of Tamil Nadu. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
  19. ↑ Rajaraman, P. (1988). The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916-37. Poompozhil Publishers. p. 264.
  20. ↑ Rajaraman, P. (1988). The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916-37. Poompozhil Publishers. p. 237.
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