1937 Punjab Provincial Assembly election

1937 Punjab Provincial Assembly election

1936-37 1946  →
175 seats of the Punjab Provincial Assembly 88 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	64.23%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sikandar Hayat Khan Gopi Chand Bhargava Sundar Singh Majithia Party Unionist INC KNP Leader's seat North Punjab (Landholders) (Muhammadans) Lahore City (General-Urban) Batala (Sikh-Rural) Seats won 98 18 13
Elected Premier Sikandar Hayat Khan Unionist

First Provincial assembly election was held in Punjab in the winter of 1936-37 as mandated by the Government of India Act 1935.

Background

After the passing of Government of India act 1935, Provincial assembly was set up in Punjab. It consisted 175 constituencies. Out of these 159 were single-member constituencies and 8 were double-members constituencies. In double-members constituencies one was reserved for the Schedule Caste according to Poona Pact. ^[1] In double constituencies each voter had two votes to cast his vote, one for SC candidate and one for general candidate but considered as one vote to calculate voter turnout.

All 175 constituencies were reserved on the basis of religion. It was as follows:-

Constituency Type	Urban	Rural	Total
General	8	34	42
Muhammadans	9	75	84
Sikhs	2	29	31
Special^	-	-	18
Total	19	138	175

^Special constituencies (non-territory constituency) were further divided into Categories and sub-categories as follow:-

• Women - 4
  • General - 1
  • Mohammadans - 2
  • Sikhs - 1
• European - 1
• Anglo-Indian - 1
• Indian Christian - 2
• Punjab Commerce and Industry - 1
• Landholders - 5
  • General - 1
  • Mohammadans - 3
  • Sikhs - 1
• Trade and Labour Unions - 3
• University - 1

Election schedule

The election schedule was as follows:- ^[2]

Election program	Date
Filing of nominations	23 November 1936
Scrutiny of nominations	30 November 1936
Polling	1 December 1936
Counting	2 and 7 December 1936
Counting in Special constituencies	21 January 1937

Voter Statistics

During 1937 election there were total 27,84,646 voters. Out of these 64.23% voters cast their votes.

26,66,149 voters were in Territorial Constituencies and 1,18,497 were in Non-Territorial Constituencies.

In territorial constituencies the highest number of voters (39,290) were in '24-Hoshiarpur West (General-Rural)' and lowest number of voters (5,496) were in '62-Tarn Taran (Muhammadan-Rural)'. The highest vote turnout (89.87%) registered in '81-Shahpur (Muhammadan-Rural)' and lowest (3.93%) registered in '122-Ambala North (Sikh-Rural)'.

In Non-Territorial Constituencies the highest number of voters (58,106) were in '153-Amritsar (Women-Sikh)' and lowest number of voters (10) were in '163-Baluch Tumandars (Landholders)'. Highest vote turnout (98.35%) was registered in '158-Punjab Commerce and Industry (Commerce and Industry)' and lowest (40.53%) registered in '151-Inner Lahore (Women-Mohammadan)'.

Results

Party		Seats won
	Unionist Party (UoP)	98
	Indian National Congress (INC)	18
	Khalsa National Party (KNP)	13
	Hindu Election Board (HEB)	12
	Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)	11
	Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam (MAI)	4
	All-India Muslim League (AIML)	2
	Congress Nationalist Party (CNP)	1
	Independents (IND)	16
Total		175
Source= [3]

Category wise result

S. No.	Party	Category (Seats)
		General Urban (8)	General Rural (34)	Muhammadans Urban (9)	Muhammadans Rural (75)	Sikh Urban (2)	Sikh Rural (29)	Special (18)	Total (175)
1	Unionist Party	-	15	3	72	-	2	6	98
2	Indian National Congress	7	3	-	2	-	4	2	18
3	Khalsa National Party	-	-	-	-	2	10	1	13
4	Hindu Election Board	1	9	-	-	-	-	2	12
5	Shiromani Akali Dal	-	-	-	-	-	10	1	11
6	Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	4
7	All-India Muslim League	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	2
8	Congress Nationalist Party	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1
9	Independents	-	6	1	-	-	3	6	16

Special (18)

• Women (4)
  • General (1)
    • Indian National Congress - 1
  • Mohammadans (2)
    • Independents - 2
  • Sikhs (1)
    • Shiromani Akali Dal - 1
• European (1)
  • Independent - 1
• Anglo Indian (1)
  • Independent - 1
• Indian Christian (2)
  • Unionist Party - 2
• Punjab Commerce and Industry (1)
  • Independent - 1
• Landholders (5)
  • General (1)
    • Hindu Election Board - 1
  • Mohammadans (3)
    • Unionist Party - 3
  • Sikhs (1)
    • Khalsa National Party - 1
• Trade and Labour Unions (3)
  • Hindu Election Board - 1
  • Indian National Congress - 1
  • Unionist Party - 1
• University (1)
  • Independent - 1

Constituency wise result

Group Photo of Member of Punjab Provincial Assembly in 1937.

Color key for the Party of Candidates

•    Indian National Congress
•    Shiromani Akali Dal
•    Unionist Party
•    Independent
•    Khalsa National Party
•    Hindu Election Board
•    Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam
•    All-India Muslim League
•    Congress Nationalist Party

Other color keys

•   Candidate Elected Unopposed
•   Constituency reserved for Schedule Caste

General Urban

S. No.	Cons. No.	Constituency	Winner	Party
1	1	Southern Towns	Shri Ram Sharma		Indian National Congress
2	2	South-Eastern Towns	Deshbandhu Gupta
3	3	Eastern Towns	Sudarshan Seth
4	4	Lahore City	Gopi Chand Bhargava
5	5	Amritsar City	Sant Ram Seth
6	6	North-Eastern Towns	Krishan Gopal Dutt
7	7	North-Western Towns	Bhimsen Sachar
8	8	South-Western Towns	Shiv Dayal		Hindu Election Board

General Rural

S. No.	Cons. No.	Constituency	Winner	Party
9	9	Hissar South	Hey Ram		Unionist Party
10	10	Hansi	Suraj Mal
11	11	Hissar North	Atma Ram		Independent
12	12	Rohtak North	Chaudhary Tika Ram		Unionist Party
13	13	Rohtak Central	Ram Sarup
14	14	Jhajjar	Chottu Ram
15	15	North-western Gurgaon	Rao Balbir Singh		Hindu Election Board
16	16	South-Eastern Gurgaon	Prem Singh		Unionist Party
17		South-Eastern Gurgaon	Sumer Singh
18	17	Karnal South	Anant Ram
19	18	Karnal North	Chaudhary Ranpat
20		Karnal North	Chaudhary Faqira
21	19	Ambala-Simla	Duni Chand		Indian National Congress
22		Ambala-Simla	Jugal Kishore		Independent
23	20	Kangra North	Gopal Das		Hindu Election Board
24	21	Kangra South	Dina Nath
25	22	Kangra East	Bagwant Singh		Independent
26	23	Kangra West	Bhagat Ram Sharma
27	24	Hoshiarpur West	Kartar Singh		Indian National Congress
28		Hoshiarpur West	Mula Singh		Independent
29	25	Una	Rai Hari Chand		Unionist Party
30	26	Jullundhar	Bhagat Ram Choda		Congress Nationalist Party
31		Jullundhar	Seth Krishan Das		Unionist Party
32	27	Ludhiana-Ferozpur	Muni Lal Kalia		Indian National Congress
33		Ludhiana-Ferozpur	Gopal Singh		Unionist Party
34	28	Western Lahore	Gokul Chand Narang		Hindu Election Board
35	29	Amritsar-Sialkot	Chaudhary Rai
36		Amritsar-Sialkot	Bhagat Hans Raj		Unionist Party
37	30	Gurdaspur	Ripudaman Singh		Hindu Election Board
38	31	Rawalpindi	Mukund Lal
39	32	South-Eastern Multan	Girdhari Lal		Independent
40	33	Layallpur Jhang	Seth Ram Narain Arora		Hindu Election Board
41		Layallpur Jhang	Harnam Das		Unionist Party
42	34	West Multan	Sham Lal		Hindu Election Board

Muhammadan Urban

S. No.	Cons. No.	Constituency	Winner	Party
43	35	Southern Towns	Gulam Samad		Unionist Party
44	36	South-Eastern Towns	Mian Abdul Haye
45	37	Eastern Towns	Barkat Ali		All-India Muslim League
46	38	Inner Lahore	Khalid Latif Gauba		Unionist Party
47	39	Outer Lahore	Abdul Aziz		Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam
48	40	Amritsar City	Saiffudin Kitchlew		Independent
49	41	North-Eastern Towns	Mazhar Ali Azhar		Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam
50	42	Rawalpindi Towns	Sheikh Muhammad Alam
51	43	Multan Towns	Ghulam Hussain

Muhammadan Rural

S. No	Cons. No.	Constituency	Winner	Party
52	44	Hissar	Saheb daad Khan		Unionist Party
53	45	Rohtak	Shafi Ali Khan
54	46	North-Western Gurgaon	Yasin Khan
55	47	South-Eastern Gurgaon	Abdur Rahim
56	48	Karnal	Faiz Ali
57	49	Ambala-Simla	Abdul Hamid Khan
58	50	Kangra East-Hoshiarpur	Rai Faiz Khan
59	51	Hoshiarpur West	Rana Nasrullah Khan
60	52	Jullundur North	Abdur Rahman
61	53	Jullundur South	Abdur Raab
62	54	Ludhiana	Mohammed Hassan		Indian National Congress
63	55	Ferozpur Central	Shah Nawaz Khan Mamdot		Unionist Party
64	56	Ferozpur Eastern	Amjad Ali Khan
65	57	Fazilka	Akbar Ali
66	58	Lahore South	Muzaffar Ali Khan Qizilibash
67	59	Chunian	Muhammad Husain
68	60	Kasur	Iftik Haruddin		Indian National Congress
69	61	Amritsar	Maqbul Mahmud		Unionist Party
70	62	Tarn Taran	Faqir Hussain Khan
71	63	Ajanala	Fazl Din
72	64	Gurdaspur East	Ali Akbar
73	65	Batala	Badar Mohy-ud-din Qadri
74	66	Shakargarh	Abdur Rahim
75	67	Sialkot North	Shahab-ud-din
76	68	Sialkot Center	Ghulam Rasul Cheema
77	69	Sialkot South	Shahab-ud-din Virk
78	70	Gujranwala North	Nasiruddin Chatha
79	71	Gujranwala East	Husain Bhinder
80	72	Hafizabad	Riasat Ali Chatha
81	73	Sheikhupura	Ghulam Mohyuddin Qasuri
82	74	Nankana Sahib	Karamat Ali
83	75	Shahdara	Afzal Ali Shah Hasni
84	76	Gujarat North	Fateh Mohammed
85	77	Gujarat East	Fazal Ali Khan
86	78	South-Eastern Gujarat	Muhammad khan
87	79	Gujarat West	Irshadullah Ranjha
88	80	South-Western Gujarat	Muhammad Ashraf Warraich
89	81	Shahpur	Allah Baksh Khan Tiwana
90	82	Khushab	Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana
91	83	Bhalwal	Umar Hayat Khan
92	84	Sargodha	Habibullah Khan Tiwana
93	85	Jehlum	Mohammed Khan Akram
94	86	Pind Dadan Khan	Gazanfar Ali Khan		All-India Muslim League
95	87	Chabwal	Sarfraj Ali Khan		Unionist Party
96	88	Rawalpindi Sadar	Yusuf Khan
97	89	Gujar Khan	Farman Ali Khan
98	90	Rawalpindi East	Raja Fateh Khan
99	91	Attock North	Muzaffar Khan
100	92	Attock Central	Mohammed Nawaz Khan
101	93	Attock South	Mohyuddin Lal Badshah
102	94	Mianwali North	Gulam Qadir Khan
103	95	Mianwali South	Muzaffar Khan
104	96	Montgomery	Fateh Sher Khan Langrial
105	97	Okara	Jehangir Khan
106	98	Dipalpur	Nur Ahmed Maneka
107	99	Pakpattan	Sultan Ahmed Hotiana
108	100	Lyallpur	Mohammed Nurullah
109	101	Samunduri	Sadat Ali Khan
110	102	Toba Tek Singh	Nasir-ud-din Shah
111	103	Jaranwal	Rai Shahadat Ali Khan
112	104	Jhang East	Nawazish Ali Khan
113	105	Jhang Central	Mubarak Ali Shah
114	106	Jhang West	Talib Hussain Khan
115	107	Multan	Ashiq Hussain Qureshi
116	108	Shujabad	Raja Shah Gilani
117	109	Lodhran	Vilayat Hussain Shah
118	110	Mailsi	Ahmad Yar Khan Doultana
119	111	Khanewal	Habit Khan Daha
120	112	Kabirwala	Wali Mohammed Sial Hiraz
121	113	Muzaffargarh Sadar	Fazl Karim Baksh Qureshi
122	114	Alipur	Mohammed Hasan
123	115	Muzaffargarh North	Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani
124	116	Dera Gaji Khan North	Gulam Murtaza
125	117	Dera Gaji Khan Central	Faiz Mohammed
126	118	Dera Gaji Khan South	Husain Khan Gurchani

Sikh Urban

S. No.	Cons. No.	Constituency	Winner	Party
127	119	Eastern Towns	Santokh Singh		Khalsa National Party
128	120	Western Towns	Ujjal Singh

Sikh Rural

S. No.	Cons. No.	Constituency	Winner	Party
129	121	South-Eastern Punjab	Narotam Singh		Shiromani Akali Dal
130	122	Ambala North	Baldev Singh
131	123	Kangara North-Hoshiarpur	Hari Singh
132	124	Hoshiarpur South	Harjab Singh		Indian National Congress
133	125	Jullundur West	Gurbachan Singh		Khalsa National Party
134	126	Jullundur East	Kabul Singh		Indian National Congress
135	127	Ludhiana East	Kapur Singh		Independent
136	128	Ludhiana Central	Lal Singh Kamla		Unionist Party
137	129	Jagraon	Dasaundha Singh		Khalsa National Party
138	130	Ferozpur North	Sodhi Harnam Singh		Khalsa National Party
139	131	Ferozpur East	Rur Singh		Indian National Congress
140	132	Ferozpur West	Pritam Singh Sidhu		Independent
141	133	Ferozpur South	Tara Singh		Shiromani Akali Dal
142	134	Lahore West	Tehja Singh		Indian National Congress
143	135	Kasur	Chanan Singh		Shiromani Akali Dal
144	136	Amritsar North	Sohan Singh Josh		Unionist Party
145	137	Amritsar Central	Basakha Singh		Khalsa National Party
146	138	Amritsar South	Partap Singh Kairon		Shiromani Akali Dal
147	139	Gurdaspur North	Inder Singh		Khalsa National Party
148	140	Batala	Sundar Singh Majithia
149	141	Sialkot	Balwant Singh		Independent
150	142	Gujranwala-Shahadara	Joginder Singh		Khalsa National Party
151	143	Sheikhupura West	Naunihal Singh Mann
152	144	Gujarat Shahpur	Prem Singh		Shiromani Akali Dal
153	145	North-Western Punjab	Uttam Singh Duggal		Khalsa National Party
154	146	Montgomery East	Jagjit Singh Bedi		Shiromani Akali Dal
155	147	Lyallpur West	Sampuran Singh
156	148	Lyallpur East	Giani Kartar Singh
157	149	South-Western Punjab	Ajit Singh		Khalsa National Party

Special

S. No	Cons. No.	Constituency	Winner	Party
Women
158	150	Lahore City (General)	Parbhati Devi		Indian National Congress
159	151	Inner Lahore (Muhammadan)	Rashida Latif		Independent
160	152	Outer Lahore (Muhammadan)	Jahanara Shah Nawaz
161	153	Amritsar South (Sikh)	Raghbir Kaur		Shiromani Akali Dal
Anglo-Indian
162	154	Punjab Anglo-Indian	E. Few		Independent
European
163	155	European	William Roberts		Independent
Indian Christian
164	156	East-Central Punjab	S. P. Singha		Unionist Party
165	157	West-Central Punjab	Jalal-ud-din Amber
Commerce and Industry
166	158	Punjab Commerce and Industry	Binda Saran		Independent
Landholders
167	159	Eastern Punjab (General)	Raja Narender Nath		Hindu Election Board
168	160	Central Punjab (Sikh)	Jagjit Singh		Khalsa National Party
169	161	Northern Punjab (Muhammadan)	Sikandar Hayat Khan		Unionist Party
170	162	Western Punjab (Muhammadan)	Hayat Khan Noon
171	163	Baluch Tumandars (Muhammadan)	Jamal Khan Leghari
Trade and Labour Unions
172	164	Punjab Trade and Labour Unions	Sita Ram		Hindu Election Board
173	165	Eastern Punjab	Diwan Chaman Lall		Indian National Congress
174	166	Northern Punjab	Ahmad Baksh Khan		Unionist Party
University
175	167	Punjab Universities	Manohar Lal		Independent

Government formation

(Right to Left) Amjad Ali Khan (member), Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (minister), Dasaundha Singh (member), Sikandar Hayat Khan (prime minister), Chottu Ram (minister), Mian Abdul Haye (minister) in 1940.

After the result Unionist party got majority in the assembly on its own. Unionist Party leader Sikandar Hayat Khan claimed the formation of Government in the State. Khalsa National Board and Hindu Election Board also joined the government.

On 5 April 1937 Sikandar Hayat Khan formed the Government and 5 other members also took oath. The ministers and their ministries were as follows:- ^[4]

Name	Ministry	Party		Constituency
Sikandar Hayat Khan	Prime minister and Law and order		UoP	North Punjab (Landholders) (Mohammadans)
Chottu Ram	Revenue and Irrigation		UoP	Jhajjat (General-Urban)
Mnohar Lal	Finance and Industry		IND	Punjab Universities
Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana	Electricity, Police and Local governments		UoP	Khushab (Muhammadans-Rural)
Sundar Singh Majithia	Development		KNP	Batala (Sikh-Rural)
Mian Abdul Hayee	Education and Health		UoP	South East Town (Muhammadans-Urban)

On 2 April 1941 after the death of Sundar Singh Majithia, the ministry of Development was handed over to Dasaundha Singh (KNP) from Jagraon (Sikh-Rural) constituency. ^[5] In 1942 after Sikandar-Baldev Pact KNP leader and minister Dasaundha Singh was removed from the cabinet and Baldev Singh joined the cabinet. ^[6]

On 26 December 1945 Sikandar Hayat Khan died due to a heart attack. Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana succeeded him on 30 December 1945. ^[7]

References

1. Elections in Punjab 1920-1947 (Pdf),(p. 16), Book by Kirpal C. Yadav. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
2. Elections in Punjab 1920-1947 (Pdf),(p. 84), Book by Kirpal C. Yadav. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
3. Political Development and Political Parties in Punjan 1849-1948 (Pdf), (p. 74), Pakistan Journal of Social Science Vol. 29, No. 1 (June 2009) pp. 65-78. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
4. Turmoil in Punjab politics Book by Subhash Chandra Arora. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
5. Turmoil in Punjab politics Book by Subhash Chandra Arora. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
6. Sikandar-Baldev Pact. www.thesikhencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
7. Firoz Khan Noon to Khizar Hayat Khan, 21 August 1945, SHC/Punjab vol. IV, 15.