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General elections were held in British India in 1920 to elect members to the Imperial Legislative Council and the Provincial Councils. They were the first elections in the country's modern history.[1][2]
The new Central Legislative Assembly which was the lower chamber of the Imperial Legislative Council was based in Delhi had 104 elected seats, of which 66 were contested and thirty eight were reserved for Europeans elected through the Chambers of Commerce.[1] For the upper chamber, the Council of State, 24 of the 34 seats were contested, whilst five were reserved for Muslims, three for Europeans, one for Sikhs and one for the United Provinces.[1] The Parliament was opened by the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn on 9 February 1921.[3]
Alongside the national elections there were also elections to 637 seats in Provincial Assemblies. Of these, 440 were contested, 188 had a single candidate elected unopposed. Despite the calls by Mahatma Gandhi for a boycott of the elections, only six had no candidate.[1] Within the Provincial Assemblies 38 were reserved for European voters.[1]
In 1920, proportional representation (STV) was used on experimental basis to elect three members of the Legislative Assembly of India for the European constituency of Bengal and to elect four members of the Council of State of India from the non-Muslim constituency of Madras. STV was also used to elect four members of the Legislative Council of Bengal for the European constituency of Bengal.[4]
- ^ a b c d e "New Indian Councils: Failure Of Boycott Movement", The Times, 8 January 1921, p9, Issue 42613
- ^ Roy, Chakshu (31 March 2024). "History Headline - 1920: The start of India's election journey". The Indian Express.
- ^ "New Era For India: Delhi Parliament Opened, King's Messages", The Times, 10 February 1921, p10, Issue 42641
- ^ Hoag and Hallett. Proportional Representation (1926). p. 258.