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{{Use British English|date=April 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1946 Indian provincial elections
| country = British India
| type = parliamentary
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1937 Indian provincial elections
| previous_year = 1937
| next_election =
| next_year = {{nowrap|[[1951–52 elections in India|India (1952)]]→ Pakistan (1951)}}
| election_date = 1946
| seats_for_election = 1585 provincial seats contested
| image1 = File:Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1988 stamp of India (cropped).jpg
| image1_size = 100px
| leader1 = [[Abul Kalam Azad]]
| party1 = Indian National Congress
| alliance1 =
| leaders_seat1 = ''Did not contest''
| seats1 = 923
| seat_change1 =
| popular_vote1 =
| percentage1 =
| swing1 = 
| image2 = Jinnah1945c.jpg
| image2_size = 100px
| leader2 = [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]
| leaders_seat2 = [[Byculla]]
| party2 = [[All-India Muslim League|AIML]]
| alliance2 =
| seats2 = 425
| seat_change2 =
| popular_vote2 =
| percentage2 =
| swing2 =
| color2 = {{party color|All-India Muslim League}}
| map = [[File:1946 Indian Provincial Elections.png|300px]]
}}

Provincial elections were held in [[British India]] in January 1946 to elect members of the legislative councils of the Indian provinces.<ref name="Vohra">{{cite book |last=Vohra |first=Ranbir |year=2013 |orig-year=First published 1997 |title=The Making of India: A Political History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oXLluy2m_MC&pg=PA177 |edition=3rd |publisher=M. E. Sharpe |page=176 |isbn=978-0-7656-2985-2}}</ref> The Congress, in a repeat of the [[1937 Indian provincial elections|1937 elections]], won 90% of the general non-Muslim seats, while the Muslim League won the 87% of the Muslim seats in the provinces. Voting in this election was restricted on property-owning qualifications.<ref name="z773"/><ref name="books.google.com">Stern, R. W. (2001). Democracy and dictatorship in South Asia: dominant classes and political outcomes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Greenwood Publishing Group. p=37 [https://books.google.com/books?id=r8ZQaJGkPiEC&q=%22electorate%22+1946+%22Indian+provincial+elections%22&pg=PP11]</ref><ref name="Vanderbok, W. 1988">Vanderbok, W., & Sisson, R. (1988). Parties and Electorates from Raj to Swaraj: An Historical Analysis of Electoral Behavior in Late Colonial and Early Independent India. Social Science History, 12(2), 121-142. doi:10.1017/S0145553200016084</ref><ref name="Palshikar, S. 2006">Palshikar, S. (2006). The Promise of Democracy:'Democracy'in the Pre-independence India. Project on State of Democracy in South Asia as part of the Qualitative Assessment of Democracy Lokniti (Programme of Comparative Democracy). Delhi: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.</ref> The franchise under [[Government of India Act 1935]] was quite limited compared to universal suffrage and less than 10% of the population in provinces under direct British control were eligible to vote based on their property and income.<ref name="z773"/><ref name="books.google.com">Stern, R. W. (2001). Democracy and dictatorship in South Asia: dominant classes and political outcomes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Greenwood Publishing Group. p=37 [https://books.google.com/books?id=r8ZQaJGkPiEC&q=%22electorate%22+1946+%22Indian+provincial+elections%22&pg=PP11]</ref><ref name="Vanderbok, W. 1988">Vanderbok, W., & Sisson, R. (1988). Parties and Electorates from Raj to Swaraj: An Historical Analysis of Electoral Behavior in Late Colonial and Early Independent India. Social Science History, 12(2), 121-142. doi:10.1017/S0145553200016084</ref><ref name="Palshikar, S. 2006">Palshikar, S. (2006). The Promise of Democracy:'Democracy'in the Pre-independence India. Project on State of Democracy in South Asia as part of the Qualitative Assessment of Democracy Lokniti (Programme of Comparative Democracy). Delhi: Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.</ref>

The All India Muslim League verified its claim to be the sole representative of Muslim India.<ref name="z773">{{cite book |last=Sajjad |first=M. |title=Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-55981-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qiRHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT221 |language=id |access-date=2024-08-14 |pages=221–222}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Barbara Metcalf |author2=Thomas Metcalf |title=A Concise History of Modern India |url=http://apnaorg.com/books/english/concise-history-india/concise-history-india.pdf |edition=2nd |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=212–213 |isbn=978-0-511-24558-9}} "The Muslim League, on its part, won all 30 reserved Muslim seats in the central legislature, and 442 of the 500 Muslim seats in the provincial assemblies. In striking contrast to its dismal showing in 1937, the League had now made good on Jinnah's claim that the League, and the League alone, represented India's Muslims."</ref><ref name="The Partition of India">{{cite book |author1=Ian Talbot |author2=GuSingh |title=The Partition of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-13aHAAACAAJ |date=23 July 2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85661-4 |page=36}}</ref> The election laid the path to [[Pakistan]].<ref name=Dawn>{{cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1105473/the-election-that-created-pakistan |title=The election that created Pakistan |newspaper=Dawn |author=Nadeem F. Paracha |date=11 May 2014 |access-date=20 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="The Partition of India"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Jinnahs-constituency-gears-up-for-elections/articleshow/4961005.cms |title=Jinnah's constituency gears up for elections |newspaper=The Times of India |date=1 September 2009 |author=Mateen Hafeez |access-date=20 August 2019}}</ref>

==Background==
On 19 September 1945, following negotiations between Indian leaders and members of the [[1946 Cabinet Mission to India]] from the United Kingdom, the [[Viceroy]] [[Lord Wavell]] announced that elections to the provincial and [[1945 Indian general election|central legislatures]] would be held from December 1945 to January 1946. It was also announced that an executive council would be formed and a constitution-making body would be convened after these elections.<ref name="Vohra"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Sen |first=S. N. |year=1997 |title=History of the Freedom Movement in India (1857–1947) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hssXP1hBYscC&pg=PA318 |edition=3rd |publisher=New Age International |page=317 |isbn=978-81-224-1049-5}}</ref> These elections were important, as the provincial assemblies thus formed were to then elect a new [[Constituent Assembly of India|Constituent Assembly]], which would begin formulating a Constitution for an independent India. All contesting parties began campaigning. The [[Indian National Congress]] represented almost the entire Hindu population, while the Muslim League professed to speak for the whole Muslim population.<ref name="Yasmin1">{{cite book |author=Yasmin Khan |author-link=Yasmin Khan |year=2007 |title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan |url=https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan |url-access=registration |publisher=Yale University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan/page/31 31] |isbn=978-0-300-12078-3 |quote=While the Congress claimed to speak for all Indians, irrespective of religion, the League claimed to be the mouthpiece of all Muslims.}}</ref> The dominant issue of the election campaign became the issue of Pakistan.<ref name=Dawn/><ref name="Yasmin2">{{cite book |author=Yasmin Khan |author-link=Yasmin Khan |year=2007 |title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan |url=https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan |url-access=registration |publisher=Yale University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan/page/32 32] |isbn=978-0-300-12078-3 |quote=Before long, though, economic issues were supplanted by a more trenchant issue. The campaigning focal point quickly emerged as Pakistan.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Victor Sebestyen |title=1946: The Making of the Modern World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sH4AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT246 |year=2014 |publisher=Pan Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-74353-456-4 |pages=246– |quote=...it became a plebiscite on one issue: whether Muslims should be granted a separate state, Pakistan – 'land of the pure'. Overwhelmingly, the Muslims voted in favor.}}</ref>

Originally, the Muslim League had been a party that received most of its support from the Muslim-minority provinces, where manufactured fear of Hindu 'domination' was greater, as was a sort of a sense of 'loss of privilege', and to showcase its argument for Muslim nationhood, the League needed support from both Muslim-majority as well as Muslim-minority provinces. In the election campaign, the League resorted to establishing networks with traditional power bases, such as landowners and the religious elite, in the Muslim-majority provinces to win support. Religious slogans were utilized, and the term 'Pakistan' was put forward. Some scholars state that the meaning of Pakistan was kept vague so that it meant different things to different people.<ref>Aparna Pande (2011). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ceg-kSmft94C&pg=PA11 ''Explaining Pakistan's Foreign Policy: Escaping India'']. Taylor & Francis. pp. 11–. {{ISBN|978-1-136-81894-3}}.</ref> On the other hand, Venkat Dhulipala observes that, rather than being vague, the proposals for Pakistan were vigorously debated in public, maps were printed, economic foundations were analysed and Pakistan was envisioned as a modern Islamic state.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dhulipala |first=Venkat |title=Creating a New Medina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z6TBQAAQBAJ&pg=PG194 |year=2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=194 |isbn=978-1-107-05212-3 |ref={{sfnref|Dhulipala, Creating a New Medina|2015}}}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last1=Talbot |first1=Ian |title=Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India. By Venkat Dhulipala |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |volume=74 |issue=4 |year=2015 |pages=1054–1055 |issn=0021-9118 |doi=10.1017/S0021911815001461 |s2cid=165006865}}</ref> The Muslim League's support for the [[United Kingdom in World War II|United Kingdom's war efforts]] during [[World War II]] had nurtured the possibility of establishing a Muslim nation.<ref name="g688">{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=S.C. |title=The Cold War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes] |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2020 |isbn=979-8-216-06249-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZX3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1567 |page=1567 |quote=Jinnah's Muslim League strongly supported the Allied war effort and thereby greatly advanced the possibility of the creation of a separate Muslim state in the Indian subcontinent after the war.}}</ref>

In contrast to earlier elections, the religious commitment was intertwined with a declaration of Muslim communal unity. Casting the vote became an Islamic act.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Barbara Metcalf|author2=Thomas Metcalf|title=A Concise History of Modern India|url=http://apnaorg.com/books/english/concise-history-india/concise-history-india.pdf|edition=2nd|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=214|isbn=978-0-511-24558-9}}</ref> Consequently, for the Muslim electorate, Pakistan represented both a nation-state for India's Muslims, but one that surpassed the common state structure, and an awakening of an Islamic polity where Islam would be blended with the state's functioning.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Barbara Metcalf|author2=Thomas Metcalf|title=A Concise History of Modern India|url=http://apnaorg.com/books/english/concise-history-india/concise-history-india.pdf|edition=2nd|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=215|isbn=978-0-511-24558-9}}</ref> However, only 13% of the Muslims were allowed to vote in this election, and "even educated Muslims did not know what Pakistan meant or implied".<ref name="z773"/>

The voting in this election was restricted on property-owning qualifications.<ref name="z773"/><ref name="books.google.com"/><ref name="Vanderbok, W. 1988"/><ref name="Palshikar, S. 2006"/>

==Results==
Of the total of 1585 seats, the [[Indian National Congress]] won 923 (58.23%),<ref name="world today">{{cite journal |author=W. W. J. |date=April 1946 |title=The Indian Elections – 1946 |journal=The World Today |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=167–175 |jstor=40391905}}</ref> and the [[All-India Muslim League]] won 429 seats out of 492 Muslim reserved seats (26.81% of the total), placing it as the second-ranking party. It captured all Muslim constituencies in the central assembly as well as most of the Muslim constituencies in the provincial legislatures.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Barbara D. Metcalf |author2=Thomas R. Metcalf |year=2012 |title=A Concise History of Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7UgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA212 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=213– |isbn=978-0-511-24558-9}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=Judith Margaret |author-link=Judith M. Brown |title=Modern India: the origins of an Asian democracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eq7tAAAAMAAJ |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=328–329 |isbn=978-0-19-873112-2 |quote=The acquiescence of the politically aware (though possibly not of many villagers even at this point) would have been seriously in doubt if the British had displayed any intention of staying in India.}}</ref> The vote opened the path to Pakistan.<ref name="The Partition of India"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Sajjad |first=M. |title=Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-55981-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qiRHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT221 |page=221}}</ref> The system of separate electorates ensured that Muslim contestants would compete with other Muslim candidates instead of facing non-Muslim contestants. Thus, the establishment of Pakistan was debated mainly among Muslims themselves.<ref>{{cite book |author=David Gilmartin |editor=Barbara D. Metcalf |title=Islam in South Asia in Practice |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pR0LzVCpfw8C&pg=PA410 |year=2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-3138-8 |pages=410– |chapter=Muslim League Appeals to the Voters of Punjab}}</ref>

The Muslim League's biggest success was in Bengal, where out of 119 seats for Muslims, it won 113. The League reinforced its vote in the Muslim minority provinces. It won 54 out of 64 Muslim seats in the United Provinces and 34 of Bihar's 40 Muslim seats. It captured all Muslim seats in Bombay and Madras. The party demonstrated that it was the representative of Muslim India.<ref name=Dawn/><ref name="The Partition of India"/>

The [[Communist Party of India]] had presented 108 candidates, out of whom only 8 won a seat.<ref name="c"/> The setback came as a result of the decision of the party not to support the [[Quit India]] movement of 1942.<ref>{{cite book |author=Sharma, Shalini |year=2010 |title=Radical Politics in Colonial Punjab: Governance and Sedition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jiATbhiMY54C&pg=PA7 |publisher=Routledge |page=7 |isbn=978-0-203-86969-7}}</ref> Seven out of the eight seats it won were reserved for labour representatives. All in all, the Communist Party obtained 2.5% of the popular vote. Albeit far from competing with the two main parties, the communists became the third force in terms of the popular vote.<ref name="c">{{cite book |author1=Gene D. Overstreet |author2=Marshall Windmiller |year=1959 |title=Communism in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PAFBW743Bi4C&pg=PA236 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=236–237 |oclc=502979}}</ref> Among the communist candidates elected were [[Jyoti Basu]] (railways constituency in Bengal), [[Ratanlal Brahmin]] (Darjeeling), and [[Rupnarayan Roy]] (Dinajpur).<ref>{{cite book |author=Samāddāra, Raṇabīra |year=2007 |title=The Materiality of Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RoQ1-4jk6OkC&pg=PA45 |publisher=Anthem Press |page=45 |isbn=978-1-84331-276-5}}</ref>

The results for the North-West Frontier Province came through in March. Congress achieved a strong majority, largely due to the personality of [[Abdul Ghaffar Khan]], enabling them to form a government without trouble.<ref name="world today" />

In Punjab, the concerted effort of the Muslim League led to its greatest success, winning 75 seats of the total Muslim seats and becoming the largest single party in the Assembly. The Unionist Party suffered heavy losses, winning only 20 seats in total. The Congress was the second-largest party, winning 43 seats, whilst the [[Sikh]]-centric [[Shiromani Akali Dal|Akali Dal]] came third with 22 seats.<ref name="world today" /> The INC, Akalis, and [[Khizar Hayat Tiwana|Khizar Hayat Khan]]'s Unionist Party kept the League out of government by forming the Punjab Coalition Party. This was controversial both among supporters of the INC, who previously had decried Khizar Khan as a reactionary, and with Jinnah, who denounced the 'Khizar-led [[Quisling]] ministry' as 'an insult to the determined will of the Mussulmans and a blot on the fair name of [the Punjab]'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roy |first=Kaushik |title=Partition of India: why 1947? |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-807760-2 |series=Debates in Indian history and society |location=New Delhi Oxford (GB) |pages=218}}</ref>

In Assam, Congress won all the general seats, and most of those were reserved for special interests, thus forming the local government. The Muslim League won all the Muslim seats.<ref name="world today" />

In the Muslim-majority province of Sind, the Muslim League won the most seats. Congress, however, also achieved strong results and initially hoped to form a coalition in government with four Muslims who had defected from the Muslim League. At the last minute, one of the four Muslim dissidents went over to the Muslim League, handing them a majority of one. Congress then lobbied three European members, who would swing the balance of power into their favour, but their overtures were rejected. The Governor of Sind, therefore, asked the Muslim League to form the local government.<ref name="world today" />

=== Legislative assemblies ===
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:centre
!Province
!Congress
!Muslim League
!Other parties
!Independents
!Total
|-
|align=left|[[Assam Province|Assam]]||58||31||Europeans 9 Others 3||7||108
|-
|align=left|[[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]]||86||113||Europeans 25 Others 12||14||250
|-
|align=left|[[Bihar Province|Bihar]]||98||34||8||12||152
|-
|align=left|[[Bombay Presidency|Bombay]]||125||30||2||18||175
|-
|align=left|[[Central Provinces]]||92||13|| ||7||112
|-
|align=left|[[Madras Presidency|Madras]]||163||28||[[Communist Party of India]] 2<ref>{{cite book |author=Andrew Wyatt |year=2010 |title=Party System Change in South India: Political Entrepreneurs, Patterns, and Processes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9RHlzMCiasC&pg=PA56 |publisher=Routledge |page=56 |isbn=978-0-203-86220-9}}</ref>||22||215
|-
|align=left|[[North-West Frontier Province|North West Frontier Province]]||30||17||2||1|| 50
|-
|align=left|[[Orissa Province|Orissa]]||47||4|| ||9|| 60
|-
|align=left|[[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]]||51||73||Akalis 22 Unionist Party 20 [[Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam]] 2||7|| 175
|-
|align=left|[[Sind Province (1936–1955)|Sind]]||18||28||10||4|| 60
|-
|align=left|[[United Provinces (1937–1950)|United Provinces]]||153||54||7||14|| 228
|-
|align=left|'''Total'''|| '''923''' || '''425''' || '''123''' || '''114''' || '''1585'''
|}
<ref name="dsal.uchicago.edu">{{cite web|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/fullscreen.html?object=110|title=-- Schwartzberg Atlas -- Digital South Asia Library|website=dsal.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

=== Overall Muslim League performance ===
According to Robert Stern, religious fervour played a part in the League's victory. In Punjab also, religious appeal was the factor in the battle between the league and the Muslim members of the Unionist party who were not interested in Pakistan.<ref name="Stern2001">{{cite book|author=Robert W. Stern|title=Democracy and Dictatorship in South Asia: Dominant Classes and Political Outcomes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8ZQaJGkPiEC&pg=PP11|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-97041-3|page=27}}</ref>
{| class=wikitable style=text-align:centre
!Province
!Muslim Seats
!Muslim League
! Win %
|-
|align=left|[[Assam]]||34||31||91%
|-
|align=left|[[Bengal]]||119||113||95%
|-
|align=left|[[Bihar]]||40||34||85%
|-
|align=left|[[Bombay Presidency|Bombay]]||30||30||100%
|-
|align=left|[[Central Provinces]]||14||13||93%
|-
|align=left|[[1946 Madras Presidency legislative assembly election|Madras]]||29||29||100%
|-
|align=left|[[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|NWFP]]||36||17||47%
|-
|align=left|[[Orissa, India|Orissa]]||4||4||100%
|-
|align=left|[[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]]||86||74||86%
|-
|align=left|[[Sind]]||34||28||82%
|-
|align=left|[[United Provinces (1937–50)|United Provinces]]||66||54||82%
|-
|align=left|'''Total'''|| '''492''' || '''429''' || '''87%'''
|}
<ref name="dsal.uchicago.edu"/>

Compared to the above table, Indian Annual Register, 1946, vol. I shows a different scenario.<ref name="The Annual Register">{{Cite journal|date=August 1946|title=The Annual Register|journal=Nature|volume=158|issue=4008|pages=254|doi=10.1038/158254d0|bibcode=1946Natur.158R.254.|issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name ="The Annual Register- Full">{{Cite web|last=Mitra|first= Nripendra Nath|date= August 1946|title=The Indian Annual Register|format= PDF|URL=https://library.bjp.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/509/1/The-Indian-Annual-Register-Jan-June-1946-Vol.1.pdf|website= BJP Library |access-date=2026-03-04}}</ref> There are some differences between the results of the two sources.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''Province'''
|'''Congress'''
|'''Muslim League'''
|'''Others'''
|'''Total seats'''
|-
|'''[[Assam]]'''
|58
|31
|19
|108
|-
|'''[[Bengal]]'''
|86
|113
|51
|250
|-
|'''[[Bihar]]'''
|98
|34
|20
|152
|-
|'''[[Bombay Presidency|Bombay]]'''
|125
|30
|20
|175
|-
|'''[[Central Provinces|C.P.]]'''
|92
|13
|71
|112
|-
|'''[[Madras]]'''
|165
|29
|21
|215
|-
|'''[[N.W.F.P]]'''
|30
|17
|3
|50
|-
|'''[[Orissa]]'''
|47
|4
|9
|60
|-
|'''[[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]]'''
|51
|73
|51
|175
|-
|'''[[Sind]]'''
|18
|27
|15
|60
|-
|'''[[United Provinces (1937–50)|U.P.]]'''
|154
|54
|21
|228
|-
|-
| colspan="5" |'''Source:''' N. N. Mitra (ed.), Indian Annual Register, 1946, vol. I, pp. 230–231.<ref name="The Annual Register"/>

Chatterji, J. (2002). ''Bengal divided: Hindu communalism and partition, 1932-1947'' (No. 57). Cambridge University Press.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chatterji|first=Joya|title=Bengal divided : Hindu communalism and partition, 1932-1947|date=1994|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-41128-9|location=Cambridge [England]|oclc=28710875}}</ref>
|}

==Aftermath==
{{See also|Partition of India}}
The Congress formed its ministries in Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Central Provinces, Madras, NWFP, Orissa, and United Provinces. The Muslim League formed its ministries in Bengal and Sind. A [[coalition government]] consisting of the Congress, Unionist Party, and the Akalis was formed in [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=260&view=text|title=Schwartzberg Atlas|website=A Historical Atlas of South Asia|author=Joseph E. Schwartzberg|access-date=10 February 2017}}</ref> Members of the [[Constituent Assembly of India]] were selected through an [[indirect election]] by the elected legislators in the [[1946 Indian Constituent Assembly election]], conducted under the British government's [[1946 Cabinet Mission to India|Cabinet Mission plan]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Assembling India's Constitution: Towards a New History|first1=Rohit|last1=De|first2=Ornit|last2=Shani|issue=263|year=2024|page=206|doi=10.1093/pastj/gtad009|journal=[[Past & Present (journal)|Past & Present]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Punjab Province ===
A well-documented account of how the coalition government − under popular [[Punjabis|Punjabi]] [[Punjabi Muslims|Muslim]], [[Punjabi Hindus|Hindu]], and [[Sikhs|Sikh]] leaders such as [[Khizar Hayat Tiwana]], [[Chhotu Ram]], and [[Tara Singh (activist)|Tara Singh]] − led by the [[Secularism|secular]] [[Unionist Party (Punjab)|Unionist Party]] in [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]] collapsed as a result of a massive campaign launched by the then [[Punjab Muslim League]] has been given by Sharma, Madhulika.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sharma|first=Madhulika|date=2012-12-13|title=The Punjab bloodied, partitioned and cleansed: unravelling the 1947 tragedy through secret British reports and first-person accounts edited by Ishtiaq Ahmed|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2012.745746|journal=Asian Ethnicity|volume=14|issue=3|pages=381–383|doi=10.1080/14631369.2012.745746|s2cid=147877672|issn=1463-1369|url-access=subscription}}</ref> AIML (Punjab) deemed the coalition government 'non-representative' and thought it was their right to bring such a government down (notwithstanding the fact that it was a legal and democratically elected government). AIML (P) called for a 'Civil Disobedience' movement − fully backed by Mr. Jinnah and Mr. [[Liaquat Ali Khan]], after they had failed to enlist Sikh support to help form an AIML-led government in Punjab. This led to bloody communal riots in Punjab during the later part of 1946.

By early 1947, the law and order situation in the province came to such a point where civil life was utterly paralyzed. It was under such circumstances that the [[Premier of the Punjab|Premier of Punjab]] ([[Chief minister]]), [[Khizar Hayat Tiwana]] of the coalition-led [[Unionist Party (Punjab)|Unionist Party]], was forced to resign on 2 March 1947. His cabinet was dissolved the same day. As there was no hope left for any other government to be formed to take the place of the Khizer government, the then [[Governor of the Punjab|Punjab Governor]] [[Sir Evan Jenkins]] imposed Governor's rule in Punjab on 5 March, which continued up to the partition day, that is, 15 August 1947.

Akali-Dall Sikhs, with 22 seats, were major stakeholders in the coalition along with Congress (51) and the Unionist Party (20), who were infuriated over the dissolution of the Khizer Government. It was in this backdrop that on 3 March 1947, Akali Sikh leader [[Tara Singh (activist)|Master Tara Singh]] brandished his ''[[kirpan]]'' outside the Punjab Assembly, saying openly, "down with Pakistan and blood be to the one who demands it". From this day onwards, Punjab was engulfed in such bloody communal riots that history had never witnessed before. Eventually, Punjab had to be [[Partition of India#Punjab|partitioned]] into the [[Punjab, India|Indian]] and [[Punjab, Pakistan|Pakistani Punjab]]. In the process, a huge number of people were massacred, millions were forced to cross over and become refugees, and thousands of women were abducted, raped, and killed across all religious communities in Punjab.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Indian elections}}
{{Pakistani elections}}

[[Category:Indian independence movement]]
[[Category:Pakistan Movement]]
[[Category:Political history of India]]
[[Category:Political history of Pakistan]]
[[Category:1946 elections in India]]
[[Category:1946 in British India]]
[[Category:Provincial Assembly elections in British India]]
[[Category:January 1946 in Asia]]

1946 Indian provincial elections - Revision history

Svetlananhr at 05:17, 4 March 2026