1934 Indian general election

General elections were held in British India in 1934. The Indian National Congress emerged as the largest party in the Central Legislative Assembly.

The total electorate for the 1934 elections was 1,415,892, of which 1,135,899 were in contested constituencies. The total number of votes polled was 608,198. The election marked the first year in which Indian women were eligible to vote in any but a local election. Of the 81,602 enrolled women voters, 62,757 of whom were in contested constituencies, only 14,505 actually used the ballot.

Results

Out of the 51 general seats of the general constituencies, the Congress won 37 seats. The party also won 5 seats in the non-General constituencies. A Congress splinter group, the Congress Nationalist Party, was the only other one to gain a significant number of seats. Most of the 30 Muslim constituencies elected independents to the Council, but within the Council, leadership of the independent Muslims was assumed by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who, shortly after the election, resumed the leadership of the moribund Muslim League from which he had previously retired. Of the 32 seats filled without a contest, twelve were in Muslim constituencies, eight in European constituencies, eight in general constituencies, three reserved for landholders and one reserved for commerce.

Party	Seats
Indian National Congress	42
Congress Nationalist Party	12
Europeans	8
People's (Leading Separationists) Party	3
Independents	41
Appointed members	41
Total	147
Source: The Times Schwartzberg Atlas

Membership by province

Province	Europeans	Independent	Minor parties	Congress (General)	Congress (Non-General)	Total
Assam		1	1	2		4
Ajmer-Merwara		1				1
Bengal	3	7	6	1		17
Bihar and Orissa		5		7		12
Bombay	2	8	1	5		16
Burma	1		3			4
Central Provinces		1	1	3	1	6
Delhi				1		1
Madras	1	4		10	1	16
North West Frontier Province					1	1
Punjab		8	3	1		12
United Provinces	1	6		8	1	16
Total	8	41	15	37	5	106

The party position in 1941 stood as follows: Central Legislative Assembly

Party	Seats
Indian National Congress	40
All-India Muslim League	25
Congress Nationalist Party	11
Non Party	25
Independents	10
Europeans	9
Officials	20
Total	140

Council of State

Party	Seats
Independent Progressive Party	10
Indian National Congress	6
All-India Muslim League	6
Officials	20
Total	42

Members of Central Legislative Assembly

Officials

• Government of India: Sir Nripendra Nath Sircar, Sir James Grigg, Sir Hendry Craik, Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, Sir Raghavendra Rao, Girija Shankar Bajpai, Sir Aubrey Metcalfe

• Nominated from Provinces:

Nominated Non-Officials

• Special Interests: M. C. Rajah (Depressed Classes, Henry Gidney (Anglo-Indian)

• Provinces:

Elected Non-Officials

• Ajmer-Merwara: Seth Bhagchand Soni

• Assam: Kuladhar Chaliha (Assam Valley General), Abdul Matin Chaudhury (Muslim), C. H. Witherington (European)

• Bengal: N. C. Chunder (Calcutta General), P. N. Banerjea (Calcutta Suburbs General), Amarendranath Chatterjee (Burdwan General), Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra (Presidency General), Suryya Kumar Som (Dacca General), Akhil Chandra Datta (Chittagong & Rajshahi General), Sir Abdur Rahim (Calcutta & Suburbs Muslim), Haji Chowdhury Muhammad Ismail Khan (Burdwan & Presidency Muslim), Sir Abdul Halim Ghuznavi (Dacca-cum-Mymensingh Muslim), Anwarul Azim (Chittagong Muslim), Kabiruddin Ahmed (Rajshahi Muslim), T. Chapman Mortimer (European), A. Aikman (European), Dhirendra Kanta Lahiri Chaudhury (Landholders), Babu Bajinath Bajoria (Marwari Association)

• Bihar & Orissa: Bhubananda Das (Orissa General), Nilakantha Das (Orissa General), Anugrah Narayan Sinha (Patna-cum-Shahabad General), Shri Krishna Sinha (Gaya-cum-Monghyr General), Bepin Bihari Verma (Muzaffarpur-cum-Champaran General), Kailash Bihari Lall (Bhagalpur, Purnea & Santhal districts General), Satya Narain Singh (Darbhanga cum Saran General), Raja Bahadur Harihar Prasad Narayan Sinha (Landholders)

• Bombay: G. V. Deshmukh (Bombay City General), Sir Cowasji Jehangir (Bombay City General), Lalchand Navalrai (Sind General), Bhulabhai Desai (Bombay Northern General), Keshavrao Jedhe (Bombay Central General), Narhar Vishnu Gadgil (Bombay Central General), Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Bombay City Muslim), Abdullah Haroon (Sind Muslim), Hooseinbhoy A. Lalljee (Bombay Central Muslim), Homi Mody (Bombay Millowners' Association), Sir Ghulam Hidayatullah

• Burma:

• Central Provinces: Narayan Bhaskar Khare (Nagpur), Seth Govind Das (Hindi Divisions), Ghanshyam Singh Gupta (Hindi Divisions), Khan Saheb Nawab Siddique Ali Khan (Muslim), Seth Sheodass Daga (Landholders)

• Delhi: Asaf Ali

• Madras: S. Satyamurti (Madras City General), M. A. Ayyangar (Madras ceded districts & Chittoor General), V. V. Giri (Ganjam cum Vizagapatam General), Kasinathuni Nageswara Rao (Godavari cum Kistna General), N. G. Ranga (Guntur-cum-Nellore General), T. S. Avinashilingam Chettiar (Salem & Coimbatore cum North Arcot General), C. N. Muthuranga Mudaliar (South Arcot cum Chingleput General), Moulvi Sayyid Murtuza Saheb Bahadur (South Madras Muslim), Haji Abdul Sathar H. Essak Seit (West Coast & Nilgiris Muslim), F. E. James (European), Raja Sir Vasudeva Rajah of Kollengode (Landholders), Sami Venkatachalam Chetty (Indian Commerce), T. S. S. Rajan

• NWFP: Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan

• Punjab: Lala Sham Lal (Ambala General), Bhai Parmanand (West Punjab General), Raizada Hans Raj (Jullundur General), Ghulam Bhik Nairang (East Punjab Muslim), Zafar Ali Khan (East Central Punjab Muslim), H. M. Abdullah (West Central Punjab Muslim), Nawab Sahibzada Sayed Sir Muhammad Mehr Shah (North Punjab Muslim), Khan Bahadur Shaik Fazal-i-Haq Piracha (North-West Punjab Muslim), Khan Bahadur Nawab Makhdum Murid Hussain Qureshi (South West Punjab Muslim), Sardar Mangal Singh (East Punjab Sikh), Sardar Harbans Singh Brar (East Punjab Sikh), Sardar Sant Singh (West Punjab Sikh), M. Ghiasuddin (Landholders)

• United Provinces: Bhagwan Das (UP Cities General), Kunwar Raghubir Singh (Agra General), Govind Ballabh Pant (Rohilkund & Kumaon General), Muhammad Yamin Khan (Agra Muslim), Maulvi Sir Muhammad Yakub (Rohilkund & Kumaon Muslim), Ziauddin Ahmad (UP Southern Muslim), Mohamed Azhar Ali (Lucknow & Fyzabad Muslim)