PAKISTAN HISTORY

ADINA ISMAIL 08672

SYED JIYAD AHSAN 09048
SARAH AHMAD 09125
MUHAMMAD ANAS AMANULLAH 09078

Election 1937

Contents
Background.................................................................................................................. 1
White Paper............................................................................................................... 1
Government of India Act 1935...................................................................................... 1
Political Positioning.................................................................................................... 1
Electorate.................................................................................................................. 1
Bibliography................................................................................................................. 2

Background
White Paper
The white paper published in the year 1934 was contained in a bill of law. It was
presented in the British Parliament for approval. The Parliament passed the Bill on 24 th
August 1935 and named it as Government of India Act 1935.
Government of India Act 1935
The most important thing
introduced in the constitution
was Federalism. Provinces
were given full autonomy. The
ministers of provinces were,
in effect, heads of provincial
administration and provincial
governors were instructed to
act on their advice except in
areas where they had special
responsibilities.
(Nomran)Two of its principle
features were separate
electorate and weightage for
the minority communitys
representation.
Diarchy was dropped at the
provincial level. (Kelly)The
number of provinces was increased to eleven by giving the NWFP the status of a fullyfledged province and creating two new provinces, Orissa and Sindh. The composition of
the provincial legislatures varied, though most had a bi cameral system similar to that of
the central government.

The provincial election were held in the winters of 1936-37. There were two major
political parties in the Sub-continent at that time, the congress and the Muslim League.
Political Positioning
At first the Congress had rejected the act of 1935, it was only later that they decided to
contest for the election of 1937.
The political manifestos of both the parties were almost identical, although there were
two major differences.
1. Congress stood for joint electorate and the league for separate electorate.
2. Congress wanted Hindi as official language with Deva Nagri script of writing
while the league wanted Urdu with Persian script.

Electorate
Given Sindhs lowly place in the literacy tables, its largely rural structure and the absence of
small peasant proprietors, and abundance of backward, right less tenants, this meant that the
property and educational qualifications for the vote had been pitched low. The property
qualification for voting meant that only 25% of Indians population was allowed to vote in the
provincial elections.
(Hudson, 1993)The Congress decided to contest the elections explicitly in order not to work the
constitution but to combat and destroy it and Muslim League, while equally opposed to the
federal provisions, fought in order to use the provincial part of the act for what it was worth.

Bibliography
Hudson, H. (1993). The Great Divide. Karachi : Oxford University Press .
Kelly, N. (n.d.). The history and culture of Pakistan .
Nomran, D. (n.d.). Nehru the first sixty years.