1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election

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]

First Indian Constituent Assembly Election

← 1945 July 1946 (1946-07) 1951 →
Pakistan (1947) →
296 seats in the Constituent Assembly of India 151 seats needed for a majority
Registered	1585
First party Second party   Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Muhammad Ali Jinnah Party INC AIML Leader since 1946 1937 Seats won 208 73 Seat change 151 33
Head of Government before election Lord Louis Mountbatten Elected Head of Government Jawaharlal Nehru INC

Background

See also: Indian independence movement and Pakistan Movement

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, Khan Abdul Samad Khan was nominated from Anjuman-i-Watan for the scheduled 12 July election in Balochistan 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 Balochistan 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 Sramik 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 Balochistan, 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 Procince.^[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]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Indian National Congress			208
	All-India Muslim League			73
	Independents and Others			15
Total				296
Registered voters/turnout		1,585	–

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]