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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2019}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1926 Madras Presidency legislative council election
| country = British Raj
| type = parliamentary
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1923 Madras Presidency legislative council election
| previous_year = '''1923'''
| next_election = 1930 Madras Presidency legislative council election
| next_year = '''1930'''
| election_date = 8 November 1926
| seats_for_election = 98 seats in [[Madras Legislative Council]]
| image1 = [[File:S. Srinivasa Iyengar.jpg|150px]]
| leader1 = [[S. Srinivasa Iyengar]]
| party1 = Swaraj Party
| leaders_seat1 =
| seats1 = 41
| seat_change1 = +21
| popular_vote1 =
| percentage1 =
| swing1 =
| image2 = [[File:RajaofPanagal.jpg|100px]]
| leader2 = [[Raja of Panagal]]
| party2 = Justice Party (India)
| leaders_seat2 =
| seats2 = 21
| seat_change2 = -23
| popular_vote2 =
| percentage2 =
| swing2 =
| title = [[Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu|Chief Minister]]
| before_election = [[Raja of Panagal]]
| bofore_party = Justice Party (India)
| after_election = [[P. Subbarayan]]
| after_party = Nonpartisan
| majority_seats = 50
}}
The '''third legislative council election''' to [[Madras Presidency]] after the establishment of [[Diarchy in Madras Presidency|dyarchical]] system of government by the [[Government of India Act 1919|Government of India Act, 1919]], was held in November 1926. [[Justice Party (India)|Justice party]] lost the election to [[Swaraj Party]]. However, as the Swaraja Party refused to form the Government, the [[Governor of Madras]] set up an independent government under the leadership of [[P. Subbarayan]] and with the support of nominated members.

== Background ==
The election was held at a time of heightened economic hardship in Madras Presidency. The failure of South West and North East monsoon resulted in a severe drought affecting farming activities. This aggravated the livelihood of landless labourers whose fortunes had already been crippled by tax collectors and money lenders. Migration of farmers from rural areas to cities in search of jobs and livelihood increased during this time.<ref name="Krishnaswamy">{{cite book | title=The role of Madras Legislature in the freedom struggle, 1861-1947| author=S. Krishnaswamy| year=1989| pages=178–183| publisher=People's Pub. House (New Delhi) }}</ref> Justice party was beset with internal distension and factionalism. Its leader [[Theagaraya Chetty]] had died on 28 April 1925 and the [[Raja of Panagal]], who was the incumbent Chief Minister of Madras Presidency succeeded him as the leader. Panagal's efforts to unite the Justice party by bringing back dissidents like [[C. Natesa Mudaliar]] were not successful. The Justice government was not in good terms with [[George Goschen, 2nd Viscount Goschen|Viscount Goschen]] who had succeeded [[Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon|Marquess Willington]] as [[Governor of Madras]] in 1924. The Justice ministers were often at odds with the members of the Governor's Executive Council over issues of power and patronage.

The [[Indian National Congress]] was also weakened by the exit of [[Periyar E. V. Ramasamy]] in November 1925. Angered by the Congress' refusal to pass resolutions in support of communal representation, he left the Congress and openly supported the Justice candidates in the election. He virulently attacked the Congress using his [[Tamil Language|Tamil]] newspaper ''kudiarasu'' (lit. The Republic).<ref name="rajaraman2"/>

== Constituencies ==
The [[Madras Legislative Council]] had a total of 132 members in addition to the [[Ex officio member|''ex officio'' members]] of the Governor's Executive Council.Its President in 1926 was [[Mariadas Ruthnaswamy]] who 40 years of age, presided over the Council. The Council had many interesting debates one such was the re-introduction of The Hindu Religious Endowments Act<ref>Madras Legislative Council, " Debates " September 1926, National Archives, New Delhi</ref> Out of the 132 members, 98 were elected from 61 constituencies of the presidency. The constituencies comprised three arbitrary divisions: 1) communal constituencies such as non-Muslim urban, non-Muslim rural, non-Brahman urban, [[Islam in India]] urban, Muslim 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-[[Brahmin|Brahmans]]. 34 members were nominated, out of whom a maximum of 19 would be government officials, 5 would represent the [[Paraiyar]], [[Pallar]], [[Valluvar]], [[Mala (caste)|Mala]], [[Madiga]], [[Sakkiliar]], Thottiyar, Cheruman and [[Pulayar|Holeya]] communities, and 1 would represent the "backward tracts". From this election five more nominated members were added to the legislature to represent women. Including the Executive Council members, the total strength of the legislature was 134.The political luminaries who were members of the Council included among others - [[PT Rajan]] who became Chief Minister 10 years later, [http://S.%20Srinivasa%20Ayyangar S. Srinivasa Ayyangar]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [[PT Rajan]], [http://S.Satyamurthi S.Satyamurthi]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [[Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar]]. The Chief Minister was the [[Raja of Panagal]], two other ministers being [http://AP%20Patro AP Patro]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and [http://TN%20Sivagnanam%20Pillai TN Sivagnanam Pillai]{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. The franchise was limited based on property qualifications.<ref name="Krishnaswamy"/><ref name="act1919">{{cite book | title=The Govt of India ACT 1919 Rules Thereunder and Govt Reports 1920| first=H.N.|last=Mithra| year=2009| pages=186–199| publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1-113-74177-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aw5r4QyRijMC&pg=RA2-PA186}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hodges|first=Sarah|title=Contraception, colonialism and commerce: birth control in South India, 1920-1940|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|year=2008|pages=28–29|isbn=978-0-7546-3809-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6H2NTD9g_rgC&pg=PA28}}</ref>

== Results ==
The incumbent Justice party lost the elections and was able to win only 21 seats. The Swarajists emerged as the single largest party with 41 seats, but were not able to obtain a majority. They even captured all the four seats in the city of [[Chennai|Madras]], which had been considered a Justice stronghold. Notable Justice leaders like Natesa Mudaliar, [[O. Thanikachalam Chetti]]ar, [[Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu]] and [[Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar]] were defeated.<ref name="rajaraman2">{{cite book | title=The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916-37| last=Rajaraman| first=P. | year=1988| pages=212–224| publisher=Poompozhil Publishers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GGMmAAAAMAAJ}}</ref> The table shows the party wise distribution of elected and non elected members.<ref name="Saroja">{{cite book | title=March to freedom in Madras Presidency, 1916-1947| author=Saroja Sundararajan| year=1989| pages=339–347| publisher=Madras : Lalitha Publications}}</ref><ref name="Arnold">{{cite book | title=The Congress in Tamilnad: Nationalist politics in South India, 1919-1937| author=David Arnold| year=1977| pages=102| publisher=Manohar| isbn=978-0-908070-00-8}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top|Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Elected
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Nominated and ''ex officio''
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Total
|-
|align=left|[[Justice party (India)|Justice Party]]
|align=center| 21
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 22
|-
|align=left| [[Swaraj Party]]
|align=center| 41
|align=center| 0
|align=center| 41
|-
|align=left| [[Independent (politician)|Independents]]
|align=center| 36
|align=center| 22
|align=center| 58
|-
|align=left| Anti-ministerial
|align=center| 0
|align=center| 0
|align=center| 0
|-
|align=left| Officials
|align=center| 0
|align=center| 11
|align=center| 11
|-
|align=left| '''Total'''
|align=center| 98
|align=center| 34
|align=center| 132
|}

==Analysis==
The victory of the Swarajists has been attributed to declining Justice party and superior campaign tactics of Swarajists most notably [[S. Srinivasa Iyengar]] and [[S. Satyamurti]].<ref name="Irschick">{{cite book | title=Political and Social Conflict in South India; The non-Brahman movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916-1929| author=Eugene F. Irschick| year=1969| pages=323| publisher=University of California Press}}</ref> They used public demonstrations, meetings, door to door canvassing, ''[[bhajan]]ai'' processions to woo public support. In contrast, the Justice party stuck to its traditional method of electioneering - canvassing support from persons of influence and strong men of the villages and cities. The mass outreach campaign of the Swarajists proved successful. They worked together with the Tamil Nadu Congress to defeat the Justice party. [[V. Kalyanasundara Mudaliar]] and [[M. P. Sivagnanam]] were among the Congress leaders who worked hard for the Swarajist victory. However, another notable Congress leader [[C. Rajagopalachari]], did not participate in election activities. The Swarajists countered Periyar's charges of Brahmin dominance against them, by fielding non Brahmin candidates in the Tamil speaking areas of the Presidency and were thus able to blunt the anti-Brahmin movement.<ref name="rajaraman2"/><ref name="Saroja"/> The following table shows communal distribution of the elected and non-elected members.<ref name="Saroja"/>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left valign=top|Party
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Elected
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Nominated and ''ex officio''
!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Total
|-
|align=left| [[Brahmin|Brahmans]]
|align=center| 18
|align=center| 3
|align=center| 21
|-
|align=left| non-[[Brahmin|Brahmans]]
|align=center| 56
|align=center| 10
|align=center| 66
|-
|align=left| Depressed classes
|align=center| 0
|align=center| 10
|align=center| 10
|-
|align=left| Mohammadans
|align=center| 13
|align=center| 1
|align=center| 14
|-
|align=left| Indian Christians
|align=center| 5
|align=center| 2
|align=center| 7
|-
|align=left| Europeans and Anglo-Indians
|align=center| 6
|align=center| 8
|align=center| 14
|-
|align=left| '''Total'''
|align=center| 98
|align=center| 34
|align=center| 132
|}

== Government formation ==
Though the [[Swaraj Party]] emerged as the single largest party it did not have a simple majority in the council. Governor Goschen invited its leader in the council [[C. V. S. Narasimha Raju]] to form the government.<ref name="rajaraman2"/> The Swarajists declined the offer as the National Congress party had a passed a resolution in its [[Kanpur|Cawnporne]] meeting, not to participate in government formation till [[dyarchy]] was abolished.<ref name="Saroja"/><ref name="rajaraman3">{{cite book | title=The Justice Party: a historical perspective, 1916-37| last=Rajaraman| first=P. | year=1988| pages=222| publisher=Poompozhil Publishers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GGMmAAAAMAAJ&q=obstruct}}</ref> The Justice party too refused to accept power as it did not have enough strength in the council and due to its previous antagonism with the governor. Goschen then turned to the Nationalist Independents for ministry formation. [[P. Subbarayan]], then an unaffiliated member was appointed as the Chief Minister holding portfolios of 1. Education (other than European and Anglo-Indian Education 2.Libraries, Museums and Zoological Gardens 3.Light and Feeder Railways and Tramways within municipal areas 4.Local self-government including village panchayats while [[A. Ranganatha Mudaliar]] held the portfolio of 1 Agriculture 2.Civil Veterinary department 3.Cooperative Societies 4.Development of industries 5.Public Works 6.Registration 7.Religious and Charitable Endowments and [[R. N. Arogyasamy Mudaliar]] held the portfolios of 1.Excise 2.Medical Administration 3.Fisheries 4.Public Health and Sanitation 5 Weights and Measures 6 Statistics 7.Pilgrimages within British India 8.Adulteration of foodstuffs and other articles.<ref>Proceedings of the Madras Legislative Council (1926) Page 2, National Archives, New Delhi</ref> Goschen nominated 34 members to the Council to support the new ministry. The ministry was a puppet administration of the Governor.<ref name="rajaraman2"/> According to David Arnold, Professor of History at the [[University of Warwick]],<ref name="warwick">{{cite web| title= Professor David Arnold | url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/people/staff_index/d_arnold/ | work =[[University of Warwick]] | access-date = 2009-12-26}}</ref> it was a "government by proxy".<ref name="rajaraman2"/>

==Impact==
{{see also|P. Subbarayan#As Chief Minister of Madras Presidency}}
The Subbarayan ministry was effectively controlled by the governor making a mockery of the dyarchial system. It was initially opposed both by the Swarajists and the Justicites. However, halfway through the ministry's term, the governor was able to entice the Justice party to support the ministry. In 1927, Subbarayan's ministers were replaced by [[S. Muthiah Mudaliar]] and [[M. R. Sethuratnam Iyer]].<ref name="Saroja"/><ref name="ralhan">{{cite book | title=Encyclopaedia of Political Parties| last=Ralhan| first=O. P. | year=2002| pages=190–194| publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD| isbn=978-81-7488-865-5}}</ref> This turn around by the Justicites made the Congress distrustful toward them. When a similar situation arose after the [[1937 Madras Presidency legislative assembly election|1937 elections]], Madras Congress leaders were wary of letting an independent ministry taking power. They remembered how the Justice party was able to worm its way back into power through the independent ministry and were able to persuade the National Congress to assume power in the presidency.<ref name="ramanathan">{{Cite book| last =Ramanathan| first =K. V.| title =The Satyamurti letters: the Indian freedom struggle through the eyes of a parliamentarian, Volume 1| publisher =Pearson Education India| year = 2008| pages =301–5| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=NY_XjIE6sVUC&pg=PA301 |isbn=978-81-317-1488-1}}</ref><ref name="menon">{{Cite book| last =Menon| first =Visalakshi| title =From movement to government: the Congress in the United Provinces, 1937-42| publisher =Sage| year = 2003| pages =75| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=UO-OxAoL4YIC&pg=PT38 |isbn=978-0-7619-9620-0}}</ref><ref name="nagarajan">{{Cite book| last =Nagarajan| first =Krishnaswami| title =Dr. Rajah Sir Muthiah Chettiar: a biography| publisher =Annamalai University| year = 1989| pages =63–70| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=0AMcAAAAIAAJ&q=erskine}}</ref>

== References ==
Madras Legislative Council"Debates"September 1926, National Archives, New Delhi
{{Reflist}}
{{Tamil Nadu assembly elections|state=expanded}}

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1926 Madras Presidency Legislative Council election - Revision history

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