Write a critical note on the provincial elections held in 1946.

Solution

After 1937, provincial elections were once again held in 1946. The results of these elections were as given below:

(i) The Congress won all the seats in the general constituencies. It
captured 91.3% of the non-Muslim votes.

(ii)    The Muslim League also got a spectacular victory in constituencies
        reserved for the Muslims. It won all the thirty reserved constituencies
        in the centre. It got 86.6% of the Muslim vote.

(iii)   Out of the total of 509 reserved constituencies in all the
       provinces,the Muslim League won in 442 constituencies. In other words,
       the Muslim League was able to prove that it really represented the
       Muslim community in India. It came up as the dominant party of the
       Muslims. It vindicated its claim that it was the only spokesman of the
       Muslims of India.

(iv) In these elections, only a few people enjoyed the right to vote. The
voters were just 10 to 12% of the total population. Similarly only one
percent voters enjoyed the right to vote for the Central Assembly.