1945 Indian general election
General elections were held in British India in December 1945 to elect members of the Central Legislative Assembly and the Council of State. Election under Government of India Act 1935 were held with limited franchise and only around 10% of the population in direct British controlled provinces were eligible to vote based on their income and property. The Indian National Congress emerged as the largest party, winning 57 of the 102 elected seats. The Muslim League won all Muslim constituencies, but failed to win any other seats. Of the 13 remaining seats, 8 went to Europeans, 3 to independents, and 2 to Akali candidates in the Sikh constituencies of Punjab. This election coupled with the provincial one in 1946 proved to be a strategic victory for Jinnah and the partitionists. Even though Congress won, the League had united the Muslim vote and as such it gained the negotiating power to seek a separate Muslim homeland as it became clear that a united India would prove highly unstable. The elected members later formed the Constituent Assembly of India.
These were the last general elections in British India, subsequent elections in Independent India were held in 1951.
Background
On 19 September 1945, the Viceroy Lord Wavell announced that elections to the central and provincial legislatures would be held in 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.
Although the Government of India Act 1935 had proposed an all-India federation, it could not take place because the government held that the Princely states were unwilling to join it. Consequently, rather than choosing 375 members, only 102 elective seats were to be filled. Hence the elections to the central legislature were held under the terms of the Government of India Act 1919.
Results
One Independent member from Bengal representing the Commerce Constituency had after his election joined the INC changing the tally of the INC to 58 and Independents to 4.
President: Ganesh Vasudev MavalankarDeputy President: Sir Muhammad Yamin KhanSecretary: M. N. KaulDeputy Secretary: M. V. H. CollinsAssistant Secretary: A. J. M. AtkinsonMarshal: Khan Bahadur Sardar Nur Ahmed Khan
Nominated members
Nominated Officials: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Liaquat Ali Khan, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar, Asaf Ali, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Doctor John Matthai, Jagjivan Ram, Jogendra Nath Mandal, Sir George Spence, Samuel Harrison Yardley Oulsnam, Binay Ranjan Sen, Balwant Singh Puri, S. C. Joshi, Krishnanath Ganesh Ambegaonkar, Ram Nath, M. V. Rangachari, Sir Wilfred Harold Shoobert, B. K. Gokhale, Govardhan Shankerlal Bhalja, Sir Pheroze Merwan Kharegat, Sir E. IngoldsbyNominated Non-Officials: Frank R. Anthony, Lieutenant Colonel Doctor J. C. Chatterjee, Rao Bahadur Namasivayam Sivaraj, Maniben Kara, S. Guruswami, Sir Cowasji Jehangir, 2nd Baronet, Rai Bahadur D. M. Bhattacharya, Raja Saiyid Ahmed Ali Khan Alvi, Chaudhri Sir Chand, Khan Bahadur Sharbat Khan, Raja Bahadur Ramachandra Mardaraj Deo, Captain Sardar Harendra Singh, Doctor P. G. Solanki, Colonel Kumar Shri Himmatsinhji, Lieutenant Commander Aftab Ali, D. D. Howell Thomas, L. S. Vaidyanathan
Elected members
Ajmer-Merwara: Mukat Behari Lal BhargavaAssam: Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri, Arun Kumar Chanda, Nawab Ali Asghar Khan, P. J. Griffiths Bengal: Sarat Chandra Bose, Nagendranath Mukherjee, Babu Debendra Lal Khan, Shashanka Shekhar Sanyal, Kshitish Chandra Neogy, Babu Satyapriya Banerjee, Abdur Rahman Siddiqui, Sir Hassan Suhrawardy, Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, Haji Chowdhury Muhammad Ismail Khan, Shaikh Rafiuddin Ahmad Siddique, Shah Abdul Hamid, Geoffrey W. Tyson, C. P. Lawson, M. A. F. Hirtzel, Babu Dhritikanta Lahiri Choudhury, Ananda Mohan PoddarBihar & Orissa: Satya Narayan Sinha, Bepin Bihari Verma, Bhagirathi Mahapatra, Sri Jagannathdas, Ramayan Prasad, Gauri Shankar Saran Singh, Banarsi Prasad Jhunjhunwala, Ram Narayan Singh, Muhammad Nauman, Chowdhry Muhammad Abid Hussain, Khan Bahadur Habibur Rahman, Madan Dhari SinghBombay: Dr. Gopalrao V. Deshmukh, R. Masani, Sukhdev Udhavdas, Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar, Ahmed Ebrahim Haroon Jaffer, Narhar Vishnu Gadgil, B. S. Hiray, Dattatraya Parashuram Karmarkar, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Seth Abdullah Haroon, Mahomed Musa Killedar, H. G. Stokes, Leslie Gwilt, Manu Subedar, Sardar Narayanrao Ganpatrao Vinchoorkar, Vadilal LallubhaiCentral Provinces and Berar: Prasadrao Keshavrao Salve, G. B. Dani, P. B. Gole, Seth Govind Das, Khan Saheb Nawab Siddique Ali Khan, Seth Sheodass Daga Delhi: Asaf AliMadras: Ammu Swaminathan, N. Narayana Murthy, V. Gangaraju, Nayukulu Gogineni Ranga, Madabhushi Ananthasayanam Ayyangar, V. C. Vellingiri Gounder, R. Venkatasubba Reddiar, T. V. Satakopa Chari, S. T. Adityan, A. Karunakara Menon, Muhammad Rahmatullah, J. Jamal Moideen Saib, Haji Abdul Sathar Haji Essak Seit, Ralph Camroux Morris, M. K. Jinachandran, Tiruppur Angappa Ramalingam Chettiar NWFP: Abdul Ghaffar KhanPunjab: Thakur Das Bhargava, Raizada Hans Raj, Diwan Chaman Lall, Syed Ghulam Bhik Nairang, Zafar Ali Khan, Hafiz Mohammad Abdullah, Nawab Sahibzada Sayed Sir Muhammad Mehr Shah,Muhammad yousaf khan Golra, Syed Abid Hussain Shah, Khan Bahadur Makhdum Syed Sher Shah Jeelani, Sardar Mangal Singh, Sardar Sampuran Singh, Squadron Leader Sardar Surjit Singh MajithiaUnited Provinces: Pandit Balkrishna Sharma, Krishna Chandra Sharma, Pandit Sri Krishna Dutta Paliwal, Seth Damodar Swaroop, Pandit Govind Malaviya, Sri Prakasa, Mohanlal Saksena, Sardar Jogendra Singh, Muhammad Ismail Khan, Sir Muhammad Yamin Khan, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Khan Bahadur Hafiz M. Ghazanfarulla, Doctor Sir Ziauddin Ahmad, Khan Bahadur Raja Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan, A. C. Inskip, Sir Vijaya Ananda