Electoral Politics in the North West Frontier Province of Colonial India 1946-47

The period 1946-47 was very crucial in the electoral history of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) within the context of suddenly changed electoral trends. Political and electoral trends suddenly changed in the NWFP during 194647. The electoral trends during the 1946 elections were favourable towards the All India National Congress. It was also observed that during the next one year, that is, in the 1947 referendum, electoral behaviour turned towards the All India Muslim League. The study of this surprising change in electoral behaviour during 1946-47 is unique in the colonial electoral history of the NWFP. In this article, an attempt has been made to explore the electoral trends in the NWFP during the 1946 elections and the referendum in 1947. Some basic questions are also addressed, that is, why did the Congress get a considerable electoral victory in the NWFP in 1946? How did electoral trends change in favour of the Muslim League after one year in the 1947 referendum? How did de-alignment occur in the electoral politics of the NWFP? What were those leading factors that affected electoral behaviour during period under study? Many social scientists and historians focused on electoral trends in descriptive form and no compact study was undertaken on the basis of electoral theories. In this article, the changing dynamics of electoral politics has been explored within the framework of existing models of electoral politics.