1937 Madras Presidency Legislative Assembly election
The first legislative assembly election for the Madras Presidency was held in February 1937, as part of the nationwide provincial elections in British India. The Indian National Congress obtained a majority by winning 159 of 215 seats in the Legislative Assembly. This was the first electoral victory for the Congress in the presidency since elections were first conducted for Madras Legislative Council in 1920. The Justice Party which had ruled the presidency for most of the previous 17 years was voted out of power. The assembly was constituted in July 1937 and C. Rajagopalachari became the first Congress Prime Minister of Madras.
The Congress also won the election held simultaneously for the Legislative Council. The victory in Madras was the Congress' most impressive electoral performance in all the provinces of British India. The Congress Government that was formed after the elections lasted till October 1939, when it resigned protesting India's involvement in the Second World War. The next election was held in 1946.
Government of India Act of 1935
The Government of India Act of 1935 abolished dyarchy and ensured provincial autonomy. It created a bicameral legislature in the Madras province. The legislature consisted of the governor and two legislative bodies – a legislative assembly and a legislative council. The assembly consisted of 215 seats, out of which majority were to be elected through limited adult franchise exercised through separate electorates devised for Hindus, Muslims & Christians, while others were distributed to various pro-government interest groups like Anglo-Indians, Europeans, Commerce & Landholders in addition to Labour and University Constituencies.The Act provided for a limited adult franchise based on property qualifications. Seven million people, roughly 15% of the Madras people holding land or paying urban taxes were qualified to be the electorate. Separate ballot boxes were kept for candidates of different political parties. The Congress was allotted the yellow coloured box, while the Muslim League was allotted green coloured box.
Issues and campaign
The Justice Party had been in power in Madras for 17 years since 1920. Its hold on power was briefly interrupted only once in 1926-28 when P. Subbarayan was a non-affiliated Prime Minister.Unpopularity of the Justice Government
The Justice Government under the Raja of Bobbili had been steadily losing ground since the early 1930s. It was beset with factional politics and its popularity was eroding slowly due to the autocratic rule of Bobbili Raja. The Raja was inaccessible to his own party members and tried to destroy the power and influence of the District level leaders who were instrumental in the party winning power earlier.The Suthanthira Sangu, in its issue dated 26 February 1935 explained the destruction of the power of local bodies:
The Justice party was seen as the collaborative party, agreeing with the British Government's harsh measures. Its economic policies during the Great Depression of the 1930s were also highly unpopular. Its refusal to decrease the land revenue taxation in non-Zamindari areas by 12.5% was hugely unpopular. The Bobbili Raja, himself a Zamindar, cracked down on the Congress protests demanding reduction of the revenue. This further reduced the popularity of the Justice Party. The Governor of Madras, Lord Erskine reported to the then Secretary of State Zetland in February 1937, that the peasants in South India had become fed up with the Justice Party and "every sin of omission or commission of the past fifteen years is put down to them ". The affluent lifestyle led by the Justice ministers at the height of the Great Depression were sharply criticized by the Madras Press. They drew a monthly salary of Rs. 4,333.60 when compared to Rs. 2,250 per month the ministers in the Central Provinces received. This invoked the ire of the Madras press. The newspaper India wrote:
Even the European owned newspaper The Madras Mail which had been the champion of the earlier Justice Governments was sickened by the ineptitude and patronage policies of the Bobbili Raja administration. On 1 July 1935, it wrote in its editorial: "if the Justice Party is really determined upon reorganisation... the spoils system must go. The extent of the discontent against the Justice Government is reflected in an article of Zamin Ryot:
Resurgence of the Congress
The Swaraj Party which had been the Justice party's main opposition merged with the Indian National Congress in 1935 when the Congress decided to participate in the electoral process. The Madras Province Congress party was led by S. Satyamurti and was greatly rejuvenated by its successful organisation of the Salt Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience movement of 1930–31. The Civil Disobedience movement, the Land Tax reduction agitations and Union organizations helped the Congress to mobilize popular opposition to the Bobbili Raja government. The revenue agitations brought the peasants into the Congress fold and the Gandhian hand spinning programme assured the support of weavers. Preferential treatment given to European traders brought the support of the indigenous industrialists and commercial interests. The Congress had effective campaigners like Satyamurti and Rajaji while the Justice party had only Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar to counter them. The Congress election manifesto was populist in nature and promised to reduce land revenue taxes, to ensure decent working conditions and wages for the laborers, low rents and all around prosperity. It even appealed to the Europeans who had reserved seats in the Assembly. It also appealed to the nationalist sentiment of the populace. Commenting on the Congress's manifesto, the Indian Annual Register said:The Congress campaign was effective and targeted all sections of the population like peasants, workers, weavers and businessmen. Against it the Justice party had no definite program or policies. It could only harp on the Brahmin domination in Congress. Amidst the backdrop of the Great Depression and economic distress their charge was not effective. Satyamurti utilised the services of popular actors like V. Nagayya and K. B. Sundarambal for the election campaign. In particular Sundarambal vigorously campaigned for the Congress. Satyamurti also produced a campaign film directed by A. Narayanan of Srinivasa Cinetone. It featured the speeches of Rajaji, Satyamurti and other Congress leaders. But the film was banned by the colonial government. The coloured box system enabled the most organised party - the Congress to have uniform slogans throughout the presidency. The slogan "vote for Gandhi and the yellow box", was very popular and helped the party to mobilise its supporters.
Other parties
The other parties contesting the election were the Madras Province Muslim League headed by Jamal Mohammad, the People's Party of Madras started by Raja of Pithapuram and the Muslim Progressive Party led by Nawab C. Abdul Hakim and S. M. Pasha.Results
Source| Party | Hindu urban | Hindu rural | Hindu women | Muslim urban | Muslim rural | Muslim women | Indian Christian | Indian Christian women | Anglo-Indian | European | Backward Tribal | Commerce | Landholders | Labour | University | Total |
| Indian National Congress | 14 | 123 | 6 | - | 4 | - | 3 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 6 | 1 | 159 |
| Justice Party | 1 | 4 | - | - | 8 | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | - | - | 21 |
| All India Muslim League | - | - | - | 1 | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9 | |
| People's Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 |
| Muslim Progressive Party | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| Independent Hindus | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | 7 |
| Independent Muslims | - | - | - | 1 | 5 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 |
| Unaligned | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | 3 | - | 4 | - | - | - | 10 |
| Total | 15 | 131 | 6 | 2 | 26 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 215 |
Members elected
Analysis
Causes for defeat
The victory of Congress over the Justice Party has been ascribed to various reasons. N. Ram, editor-in-chief of The Hindu and Robert L. Hardgrave, professor emeritus in the Humanities, Government and Asian Studies at University of Texas, Austin attribute the defeat of the Justice party to its collaboration with the British Government. According to Hardgrave:Dr. David A. Washbrook, senior research fellow of History at Trinity College, Cambridge and Andre Beteille say the elitist nature of the Justice Party members caused its defeat. Marguerite Ross Barnett attributes the Justice party's defeat to two causes - 1) The loss of Dalit and Muslim support and 2) Flight of the social radicals to the Self-Respect Movement. According to P. Rajaraman:
Notable losses
Many incumbent ministers of the Justice Government were defeated in this election. The Prime Minister Raja of Bobbili was defeated by V. V. Giri of Congress by a margin of over 6000 votes in the Bobbili Assembly constituency. Other prominent Justice losers included Kumararaja of Venkatagiri, P. T. Rajan, A. P. Patro and the Raja of Ramnad.Government formation
The elections were held and the results declared in February 1937. Rajaji was elected as the leader of Congress Legislature Party special responsibilities in the area of Finance and control and absolute discretionary powers over the cabinet in certain other issues. The Governor had the power to overrule the Cabinet. The Congress refused to accept power with such caveats. The Governor of Madras, Lord Erskine, decided to form an interim provisional Government with non-members and opposition members of the Legislative Assembly. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri was first offered the Prime Ministership of the interim government but he refused to accept it. Eventually an interim Government was formed with Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu of the Justice Party as Prime Minister on 1 April 1937. Congress leaders like S. Satyamurti were apprehensive about the decision to not accept power. They carried out a campaign to convince Congress High Command to accept power within the limitations set by the Government of India Act. They also appealed to the British Government to give assurances that the Governor's special powers will not be misused. On 22 June, Viceroy Linlithgow issued a statement expressing the British Government's desire to work with the Congress in implementing the 1935 Act. On 1 July, the Congress Working Committee agreed to form Governments in the provinces they had won. On 14 July, Rajaji was sworn in as the Prime Minister. The first legislative assembly convened for the first time on 15 July and elected Bulusu Sambamurti and A. Rukmani Lakshmipathi as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu's Cabinet
Council of ministers in K. V. Reddy Naidu's interim provisional cabinet :| Minister | Portfolio |
| Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu | Prime Minister, Public, Revenue and Legal |
| A. T. Panneerselvam | Home and Finance |
| M. A. Muthiah Chettiar | Local self-government |
| P. Kalifulla Sahib Bahadur | Public Works |
| M. C. Rajah | Development |
| R. M. Palat | Education and Public health |
Rajagopalachari's Cabinet
Council of Ministers in Rajagopalachari's Cabinet :| Minister | Portfolio |
| C. Rajagopalachari | Prime Minister, Public and Finance |
| T. Prakasam | Revenue |
| P. Subbarayan | Law and Education |
| Bayya Suryanarayana Murthy | Labour and Industries |
| Bezawada Gopala Reddy | Local Administration |
| T. S. S. Rajan | Public Health and Religious Endowments |
| Maulana Yakub Hasan Sait | Public Works |
| V. I. Munuswamy Pillai | Agriculture and Rural Development |
| S. Ramanathan | Public Information and Administration Reports |
| Kongattil Raman Menon | Courts and Prisons |
Changes
- On 7 January 1939, Raman Menon died and C. J. Varkey, Chunkath was inducted into the cabinet. Education portfolio was transferred from Subbarayan to Varkey and instead Subbarayan was given additional charge of Courts and Prisons.