General elections were held in British India to elect members to the imperial legislative council and the provincial councils. Those were the first elections in countrys history at a time when Indian freedom movement was at peak. Mahatma Gandhi appealed people to boycott the elections, linked his boycott call with satyagraha movement & said that these elections are a drama of the west and have nothing to do with resolution process. People defied the boycott call & massive participation of people resulted in over 80 % voter turnout. The new legislative central assembly which was the lower chamber of the imperial laegislative council was based in Delhi and had 104 elected seats, of which 66 were contested and eight were reserved for Europeans elected through the chamber of commerce. For the upper chamber 24 of the 36 seats were contested while 5 were reserved for muslims, 1 for Sikhs & one for the united provinces. There were also elections to 637 provincial assemblies, of these 440 were contested, 188 had a single candidate elected unopposed. The boycott call of Mahatma Gandhi had only few takers but that did not desist Gandhi jee from liberating his nation. My message to all those including Indian media who are linking Kashmir elections to the resolution process, is that they should read the history of their own country and know how people defied election boycott call in 1920 general elections. The minimum effect of boycott call was visible in Bengal and a few other provinces. ( farozlala )
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 21:21:42 +0000
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