1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election

Last updated
First Indian Constituent Assembly Election
British Raj Red Ensign.svg
←  1945
July 1946 (1946-07)
1951  →
296 seats in the Constituent Assembly of India
149 seats needed for a majority
Registered1,585
 First partySecond party
 
Jawaharlal Nehru, 1947.jpg
Jinnah1945c.jpg
Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Party INC AIML
Leader since19461937
Seats won20873
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 151Increase2.svg 43
Head of Government before election

Lord Archibald Wavell

Elected Head of Government

Jawaharlal Nehru
INC

In 1946, prior to the independence of India, members of the Constituent Assembly of India were selected through an indirect election by the elected legislators of the 1946 Indian provincial elections, conducted under the British government's Cabinet Mission plan. [1]

Contents

Background

After the 1946 Indian provincial elections were held across all provinces of British India to elect legislative assemblies, the British government sent a Cabinet Mission to the colony. The mission proposed the creation of a single Indian confederation in which the group of provinces would have the freedom to create their own constitutions as self-governing units. [2] According to the proposal, a Constituent Assembly was to be formed, which would then lead to the creation of an interim government. This interim government would convene the assembly. [3] On 30 June 1946, it was announced from the Viceroy's House that the elections would be held in July. [4]

Nominations

On 30 June 1946, the Indian National Congress formed a committee for the purpose of the elections in Bengal Province. It was reported that the party would nominate candidates for 25 seats in the province. Meanwhile, before the nomination deadline of 19 July, the party was attempting to find candidates in Punjab Province, and it was reported that they were even considering nominating individuals from outside the party. [5] On 1 July 1946, the All-India Muslim League announced the names of some candidates for the Constituent Assembly elections. [6] In 2 July, it was announced that the Congress had sent election instructions to the heads and secretaries of the provincial branches of its parliamentary party. [7] In 3 July, the Hindu Mahasabha confirmed its participation in the Constituent Assembly elections. In 4 July, the Indian National Congress announced its list of candidates for Bihar Province. On the same day, the All-India Muslim League finalized its candidates for United Provinces and also announced candidates for Bombay Province, Bihar Province, and Punjab Province. [8] In 5 July, League announced more candidates. On the same day, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai was nominated from Anjuman-i-Watan for the scheduled 12 July election in Baluchistan Province. Meanwhile, the Congress called for applications to nominate candidates from Bengal Province. [9] In 8 July, the Congress announced 7 candidates from Assam Province. [10] After the nomination deadline of 10 July passed, it was revealed that for the 60 Constituent Assembly seats from Bengal Province, 26 Congress and 33 League candidates submitted nominations to the Bengal Legislative Assembly. [11] In 12 July, nominations were submitted for 28 candidates from Bihar Province. [12] In 14 July, the Congress announced 19 candidates from Bombay Province. [13] In 13 July, the Congress finalized 45 candidates for Madras Province. [14] Before the deadline for withdrawal of nominations in 15 July, all Sikh candidates from Punjab Province withdrew their nominations. [15] On the same day, the Congress finalized its candidates for 16 general seats from Central Provinces and Berar. [16] As the representatives from the Baluchistan region were already members of the Shahi Jirga and Quetta Municipality, the All-India Muslim League did not nominate any candidates from that region. [17]

Results

In 16 July, from Assam Province, 7 candidates from the Indian National Congress and 3 from the All-India Muslim League were elected. [18] From Bengal Province, 32 Muslim seats were won by the All-India Muslim League, and 1 by the Krishak Praja Party. [19] Additionally, out of 27 general seats, the Indian National Congress won 26. In Central Provinces and Berar, 17 Congress candidates were elected unopposed. [20] From Orissa Province, 8 candidates from the Indian National Congress and 1 independent were elected. [21] In the North-West Frontier Province, out of three seats, 1 went to the All-India Muslim League and 2 to the Indian National Congress. From Punjab Province, 15 seats were won by the All-India Muslim League and 1 by the Unionist Party. [22] However, the Unionist member was later expelled. In Punjab, the Congress had 5 upper-caste Hindus, 1 Harijan, and the Unionists had 1 upper-caste Hindu and 1 Harijan elected. From the Sindh Province, 3 candidates from the All-India Muslim League and 1 from the Indian National Congress were elected, while from Baluchistan, 1 independent candidate won. [23] From the United Provinces, 45 candidates from the Indian National Congress, 7 from the All-India Muslim League, and 3 independents were elected. [24] In Bihar Province, 28 from Indian National Congress, 5 from the All-India Muslim League, and 3 independents won. From Madras Province, 4 Muslim League members were elected unopposed. [25] Indian National Congress won all 45 general seats in Madras Province. [26] From Bombay Province, 19 Congress candidates were elected, along with 2 unopposed Muslim League members. As of 24 July, Congress had won 207 seats, the Muslim League 73, independents 12, and other parties 3 seats. [27]

India Constituent Assembly 1946.svg
PartyVotes%Seats
Indian National Congress 208
All-India Muslim League 73
Independents and Others15
Total296
Registered voters/turnout1,585–
State/ProvinceSeatCandidateParty
Ajmer-Merwara General Mukut Bihari Lai Bhargava Indian National Congress
Assam General Akshay Kumar Das Indian National Congress
Basanta Kumar Das
Dharanidhar Basumatari
Gopinath Bardoloi
J. J. Nichols Roy
Omeo Kumar Das
Rohini Kumar Chaudhari
MuslimAbdul Hamid All-India Muslim League
Abdul Matin Choudhury
Muhammad Saadulla
Baluchistan –Mohammad Khan Jogazai Independent politician
Bengal General Arun Chandra Guha Indian National Congress
Ashutosh Mallick
Damber Singh Gurung
Debi Prasad Khaitan
Dhananjoy Roy
Dhirendranath Datta
Frank Reginald Anthony
H. C. Mookerjee
Hem Chandra Naskar
Jnanendra Chandra Majumdar
Kiran Sankar Roy
Lila Roy
Prafulla Chandra Ghosh
Prafulla Chandra Sen
Pramatha Ranjan Thakur
Prasanna Deb Raikat
Priya Ranjan Sen
Radhanath Das
Raj Kumar Chakravarty
Sarat Chandra Bose
Satya Ranjan Bakshi
Surendra Mohan Ghose
Suresh Chandra Banerjee
Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Uday Chand Mahtab
B. R. Ambedkar Scheduled Castes Federation
Somnath Lahiri Communist Party
MuslimA. M. Abdul Hamid All-India Muslim League
Abdul Kasem Khan
Abdulla-al-Mahmood
Abul Hashem
Bazlul Karim
Ebrahim Khan
Fazlur Rahman
Formuzul Huq
Ghiyasuddin Pathan
H. S. Suhrawardy
Haniidul Huq Chowdhury
I. H. Qureshi
K. Nuruddin
K. Shahabuddin
Khwaja Nazimuddin
Liaquat Ali Khan
M. A. Ispahani
M. Altaf Ahmed
M. Azizul Haque
M. S. Ali
Mahmud Hussain
Mazharul Huq
Md. Abdiilla-hel Baqui
Mohammad Hassan
Mohammad Hussain Malik
Mujibar Rahman Khan
Raghib Ahsan
S. S. Ikramullah
Serajul Islam
Shabbir Ahmad Usmani
Tamizuddin Khan
Yusuf Mirza
A. K. Fazlul Huq Krishak Praja Party
Bihar General Amiyo Kumar Ghosh Indian National Congress
Anugrah Narayan Singh
Banarsi Prasad Jhunjhunwala
Bhagwat Prasad
Boniface Lakra
Brajeswar Prasad
Chandrika Ram
Devendranath Samanta
Dipnarain Singh
Guptanath Singh
Jadubans Sahay
Jagdish Narain Lal
Jagjivan Ram
K. T. Shah
Kamaleshwari Prasad Yadav
Mahesh Prasad Singh
Narain Mahtha
P. K. Sen
Phulan Prasad Varma
Raghunandan Prasad
Rajendra Prasad
Rameshwar Prasad Singh
Ramnarain Singh
Sachchidananda Sinha
Sarangdhar Singh
Sarojini Naidu
Satyanarain Sinha
Sri Krishna Sinha
Jaipal Singh Independent politician
Kameshwar Singh
Shyam Nandan Sahay
MuslimHussain Imam All-India Muslim League
Latifur Rahman
Muhammad Tahir
Saiyid Jaffar Imam
Tajamal Hussain
Bombay GeneralAlban D’Souza Indian National Congress
B. G. Kher
B. M. Gupte
H. V. Pataskar
Hansa Mehta
K. M. Jedhe
K. M. Munshi
Kanyalal Desai
Khandubhai Desai
M. R. Masani
N. V. Gadgil
R. M. Nalwade
R. R. Diwakar
S. K. Patil
S. N. Mane
S. Nijalingappa
Vallabhbhai Patel
Shankarrao Deo
Shantilal Shah
MuslimAbdul Kadcr Sheikh All-India Muslim League
I. I. Chundrigar
Central Provinces and Berar General Amrit Kaur Indian National Congress
Bhagwantrao Annabhan Mandloi
Brijlal Nandlal Biyani
Cecil Edward Gibbon
Govinddas
Guru Agamdas Agarmandas
Hari Singh Gaur
Hari Vishnu Kamath
Hemchandra Jagobaji Khandekar
Laxman Slirawan Bhatkar
Punjabrao Shamrao Deshmukh
Ravi Shankar Sukla
Rustomji Khursedji Sidhwa
Shankara Tryambak Dharmadhikari
Thakur Chhedilal
V. R. Kalappa
MuslimKazi Syed Karimuddin All-India Muslim League
Coorg GeneralC. M. Punachcha Indian National Congress
Madras GeneralAinmu Swaminathan Indian National Congress
Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar
B, Gopala Reddi
B. Shiva Rao
C. Perumalswami Reddiar
C. Rajagopalachari
C. Subramaniam
D, Govind Doss
Dakshayani Velayudhan
G. Durga Bai
H. Sitarama Reddi
Jerome D’Souza
K. Chandramouli
K. Kamaraj Nadar
K. Madhava Menon
K. Santhanam
Kala Venkata Rao
L. Krishnaswami Bharathi
M. Anantasayanam Iyengar
M. C. Virabahu Pillai
Muthia Chettiar
N. G. Ranga
N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar
N. Sanjeev Reddi
O. P. Ramaswami Reddiar
O. V. Alagesan
P. Kakkan
P. Kunhiraman
P. L. Narasimha Raju
P. M. Velayudhapani
P. Subbarayan
Pattabhi Sitarainayya
Ramakrishna Ranga Rao
Raninath Goenka
S. H. Prater
S. Nagappa
T. A. Ramalingam Chettiar
T. J. M. Wilson
T. Prakasam
T. T. Krishnamachari
U. Srinivasa Mallayya
V. C. Kesava Rao
V. I. Muniswami Pillai
V. Nadimuthu Pillai
V. Subramaniam
MuslimA. Mahabub Ali Baig All-India Muslim League
B. Poker
Haji Abdul Sathar H. Issaq Sait
K, T. M. Ahmed Ibrahim
North West Frontier Province MuslimAbul Kalam Azad Indian National Congress
Abdul Ghaffar Khan
Bahadur Khan All-India Muslim League
Orissa GeneralB. Das Indian National Congress
Biswanath Das
Bodhram Dube
Harekrishna Mahatab
Malati Chowdhury
Nanda Kishore Das
Rajkrishna Bose
Santanu Kumar Das
Laxminarayan Sahu Independent politician
Punjab GeneralBakhshi Sir Tek Chand Indian National Congress
Chaman Lal
Gopi Chanel Bhargava
Mehr Chand Khanna
Prithvi Singh Azad
Shri Ram Sharma
Chaudhri Harbhaj Ram Unionist Party
Rao Bahadur Chaudhri Suraj Mal
MuslimAbdur Rab Nishtar All-India Muslim League
Abu Bakar Ahmad Haleem
Begum Jahan Ara Shah Nawaz
Chaudhri Muhammad Hassan
Feroz Khan Noon
Ghazanfar Ali Khan
Iftikhar Hussain Khan
Khan Bahadur Chaudliri Nazir Ahmad Khan
Khan Bahadur Sheikh Karamat Ali
Mahomed Ali Jinnah
Malik Omar Hayat
Muhammad Iftikhar-ud-din
Mumtaz Muhammad Khan Daultana
Syed Amjad Ali
Syed Ghulani Bhik Nairang
Muzaffar Ali Khan Qazilbaslh Unionist Party
SikhHarnam Singh Shiromani Akali Dal
Kartar Singh
Ujjal Singh
Pratap Singh Indian National Congress
Sindh GeneralJairamdas Daulatram Indian National Congress
MuslimAbdus Sattar All-India Muslim League
M. A. Khuhro
M. H. Gazdar
United Provinces GeneralA. Dharam Dass Indian National Congress
Ajit Prasad Jain
Algu Rai Shastri
Balkrishna Sharma
Banshidhar Misra
Bhagwan Din
Damodar Swamp
Dayal Das Bhagat
Dharam Prakash.
Feroz Gandhi
Gopal Narain
Gopinath Srivastava
Govind Ballabh Pant
Govind Malaviya
Hargovind Pant
Hariharnath Shastri
Hriday Nath Kunzru
J. B. Kripalani
Jaspat Rai Kapoor
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jogendra Singh
Jugal Kishore
Kailash Nath Katju
Kamala Chaudhuri
Kamlapati Tewari
Khurshed Lal
Maheswar Dayal Seth
Masuria Din
Mohan Lal Saxena
Phool Singh
Pragi Lal
Purnima Banerjee
Purshottamdas Tandan
R. V. Dhulekar
Ram Chandra Gupta
S. Radhakrishnan
Shibban Lai Saxena
Shri Krishna Dutt Paliwal
Sri Prakasa
Sucheta Kripalani
Sunder Lal
Venkatesh Narain Tewari
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Vishambhar Dayal Tripathi
Jagannath Baksh Singh Independent politician
Jwala Prasad Srivastava
Padampat Singhania
MuslimAmir Haider Khan All-India Muslim League
Begum Aizaz Rasul
Chaudhuri Kaliquzzaman
Maulana Hasrat Mohani
Maulvi Aziz Ahmad Khan
Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan
S. M. Rizwanullah
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Indian National Congress
Delhi General Deshbandhu Gupta Indian National Congress

Aftermath

Following the election, the Constituent Assembly of India was formed. Although the Indian National Congress, the majority party in the Assembly, initially accepted the Cabinet Mission's proposal, they later rejected it. [2] As a result, Muslim nationalist All-India Muslim League boycotted the assembly sessions, [28] and its leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah refused to participate in the assembly. [29] On 2 September 1946, an interim government was formed under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, leader of Indian National Congress. [30] On 3 June 1947, British prime minister Clement Attlee announced in a statement on the transfer of power in British India that a new Constituent Assembly would be formed for the Indian Muslim state, proposed by All-India Muslim League, and that its members would be elected by the provincial legislatures based on the separate Constituent Assembly election. [31] At that time, another Constituent Assembly election was held for India.[ citation needed ] After the independence of India in 1947, the elected members contributed to the drafting of the Constitution of India. [32]

References

  1. ↑ De, Rohit; Shani, Ornit (2024). "Assembling India's Constitution: Towards a New History". Past & Present . 263 (1). Oxford University Press: 206. doi: 10.1093/pastj/gtad009 .
  2. 1 2 Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir, eds. (2012). "Pakistan". Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN   984-32-0576-6. OCLC   52727562. OL   30677644M . Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  3. ↑ Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir, eds. (2012). "Cabinet Mission". Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN   984-32-0576-6. OCLC   52727562. OL   30677644M . Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  4. ↑ "CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS Likely To Be Concluded By End Of July". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 1 July 1946.
  5. ↑ "গণ-পরিষদের নির্ব্বাচনের তোড়জোড়" [Preparations for the Constituent Assembly elections]. Jugantar Patrika (in Bengali). 1 July 1946. p. 1.
  6. ↑ "List Of League Candidates". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 2 July 1946. p. 1.
  7. ↑ "Constituent Assembly Elections Detailed Instructions To Congress Premiers". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 3 July 1946. p. 1.
  8. ↑ "CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 5 July 1946. p. 4.
  9. ↑ "Constituent Assembly Elections". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 7 July 1946. p. 4.
  10. ↑ "Constituent Assembly Election Names of Assam Congress Nominees". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 10 July 1946. p. 4.
  11. ↑ "Constituent Assembly Elections Congress and League Nominees From Bengal". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 11 July 1946. p. 1.
  12. ↑ "Constituent Assembly Elections BIHAR CANDIDATES Congress Contesting 28 Seats Out Of 31". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 13 July 1946. p. 4.
  13. ↑ "CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY CANDIDATES Bombay Congress Nominates Patel, Jayakar, & 17 Others". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 15 July 1946. p. 8.
  14. ↑ "Constituent Assembly Elections Madras Selects 45 Members". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 14 July 1946. p. 1.
  15. ↑ "CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY All Sikh Nominees Withdraw Nominations". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 16 July 1946. p. 1.
  16. ↑ "C.P. & Berar Candidates". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 17 July 1946. p. 5.
  17. ↑ "CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY No Muslim League Ticket For Balochistan Candidate". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 18 July 1946. p. 1.
  18. ↑ "Assam Assembly Votes Against Grouping". The Indian Express . 18 July 1946. p. 1.
  19. ↑ "Constituent Assembly Fazlul Huq & 32 League Nominees Elected". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 19 July 1946. p. 1.
  20. ↑ "CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS IN BENGAL". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 20 July 1946. p. 1.
  21. ↑ "Eight Congressmen And One Independent Elected In Orissa". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 20 July 1946. p. 8.
  22. ↑ "সীমান্ত প্রদেশ হইতে মৌলানা আজাদ গণ-পরিষদে নির্ব্বাচিত" [Maulana Azad Elected to Constituent Assembly from Frontier Province]. Jugantar Patrika (in Bengali). 21 July 1946. p. 6.
  23. ↑ "'B' GROUP ELECTIONS ANALYSIS". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 22 July 1946. p. 8.
  24. ↑ "যুক্ত প্রদেশে গণ-পরিষদের নির্ব্বাচন" [Constituent Assembly Elections in United Provinces]. Jugantar Patrika (in Bengali). 23 July 1946. p. 2.
  25. ↑ "Constituent Assembly". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 24 July 1946. p. 5.
  26. ↑ "Constituent Assembly MADRAS QUOTA Congress Captures All General Seats". Amrita Bazar Patrika . 25 July 1946. p. 1.
  27. ↑ "Absolute Majority For Congress In Consambly". The Indian Express . 25 July 1946. p. 1.
  28. ↑ M. Lakshmikanth, Indian Polity for Civil Services Examinations, 3rd ed., (New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited, 2011), p. 2.3
  29. ↑ Lal, Sangam (1981). "THE MUSLIM LEAGUE AND THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 42. Indian History Congress: 495.
  30. ↑ "India's first government was formed today: All you need to know". Archived from the original on 2017-12-25. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  31. ↑ "INDIA (TRANSFER OF POWER)". UK Parliament. 3 June 1947.
  32. ↑ Ganguly, Sumit (February 2021). "A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V. K. Krishna Menon. By Jairam Ramesh. New Delhi: Penguin Random House India, 2019. 744 pp. ISBN: 9780670092321 (cloth)" . The Journal of Asian Studies. 80 (1): 220–221. doi:10.1017/s0021911820003964. ISSN   0021-9118.
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