The Hindu Mahasabha and the Indian National Congress, 1915 to 1926

1975 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Indian Nationalism ◽  
General Elections ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Congress ◽  
United Front ◽  
First Time ◽  
Indian National Congress

In 1926, when it contested the general elections to the Imperial and Provincial Legislatures for the first time, the Indian National Congress was embroiled in a protracted struggle between rival factions for control of the Congress organisation. Electoral rivalries exacerbated existing factionalism and highlighted the often contradictory aims, methods and interests pursued by competing groups within the loose framework of the nationalist movement. If the non-cooperation campaign of 1920–21 had witnessed a national awakening and initiated a more aggressive phase in the history of Indian nationalism, the unity imposed upon the Congress proved fragile and temporary. The curious alliance of forces which had adhered to the Congress in the more confident days of the movement and which were mixed so promiscuously with the survivors of the old Congress, exposed the organisation and its leadership to greater strain in sustaining the united front once the impulse of the agitation had subsided and provincial, regional and sectarian forces began to re-assert themselves with a vengeance. The price of a tenuous unity in 1920 was increased competition and disruption within the Congress throughout the decade; a whirlpool of differences which, to many contemporaries in the thick of events, threatened to overwhelm it.

Allan Octavian Hume, Madame Blavatsky, and the Foundation of the Indian National Congress

2020 ◽  
pp. 303-320
Author(s):  
Isaac Lubelsky
Keyword(s):  
Direct Influence ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Indian Nationalism ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Indian National Congress

This chapter demonstrates how the Theosophical Society deeply influenced the early days of Indian nationalism and was crucially responsible for the birth of the Indian nationalist movement. Allan Octavian Hume, one of Helena Blavatsky’s closest disciples during the early 1880s, was for example the person behind the foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. This chapter tells in depth the story of Hume’s Theosophical period and analyzes Hume’s writing from that period, followed by a thorough description of his efforts to erect the Indian National Congress, based on his Theosophical beliefs. It shows how Theosophy had a direct influence on the birth of the nationalist movement of the world’s largest democracy.

Congress-Muslim League Relations 1937–39

1978 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepak Pandey
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
National Party ◽  
Subtle Change ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Indian Nationalism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Government ◽  
Indian National Congress

With the passing of the Government of India Act of 1935, the history of Indian nationalism underwent a subtle change. Though not noticeable immediately after the introduction of the Act, the provincial elections, held under its provisions in 1937, and the results thereof, made this change more apparent and clear. The Indian National Congress secured a sweeping victory in five provinces and was in a position to form coalition ministries in two other provinces—a victory which revealed the efficiency and capability of the party so far as the election machine was concerned. It proved its claim of being a ‘National Party’. The Muslim-League, on the other hand, did not fare well at all, especially in the Muslim majority provinces of the Punjab and Bengal. Although it did better in the non-Muslim provinces, yet that was not enough to enable the League to boast of being the sole representative organization of the Muslims. The success of provincial parties like the Krishak Lok Party in Bengal and the Unionist Party in the Punjab showed that the Muslim electorates still thought in terms of ‘provincial’ or ‘local’ considerations, and were not moved so much by all-India issues. What was true of the League was also true of the Congress so far as the Muslims were concerned. The latter, too, was not able to capture Muslim seats in numbers adequate enough to demonstrate its popularity amongst Muslims.

Botswana’s 2019 General Elections: A Referendum on General Ian Khama

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Batlang Seabo ◽  
Robert Nyenhuis
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
The Future ◽  
General Elections ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
Ruling Party

Abstract On October 23, 2019, Botswana held its twelfth free and fair election. For the first time in the history of Botswana’s electoral democracy, a former president (Ian Khama) defected from the ruling party and supported the opposition. The opposition coalition, working informally with Khama, mounted a spirited campaign against the well-oiled machine, the incumbent and long-ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP). Seabo and Nyenhuis reflect on the 2019 general election, analyze the outcome, and consider the implications for the future of Botswana’s electoral democracy. They argue that barring other factors, the BDP’s resounding victory was mainly a result of Batswana’s rejection of former president Ian Khama.

scholarly journals An Assessment of the Emergence of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, in the 2002 General Elections

2021 ◽  
Vol VI (I) ◽  
pp. 142-153
Author(s):  
Jamal Shah ◽  
Zahir Shah ◽  
Syed Ali Shah
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Political Force ◽  
The Third ◽  
Causative Factors ◽  
General Elections ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time

Though Pakistani politics is heavily influenced by religion assumed to be the reason d'etat of the creation of Pakistan, prior to 2002, religious, political parties had never achieved effective electoral results. The October 2002 elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies were a turning point for the religious, political parties in the history of Pakistan. It was the first time that a conglomeration of six religious, political parties, the Jamaat-i-Islami, the Jamiat-i-Ulema-iPakistan (JUP-N), Jamiat-i-Ahle Hadith (JAH-S), the Jamiat-Ulema-iIslam (JUI-F), Jamiat-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S), and the Tehrik-i-Jaferia Pakistan (TJP) swept the polls under the umbrella of the Muttahida Majlise-Amal (MMA) (United Council for Action) due to the active support of the Army and America. The alliance emerged as the third-largest political force in the country, with 45 out of the 272 National Assembly general seats. Moreover, the MMA got an overwhelming mandate in the KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP) and Baluchistan, allowing it to form a government in the KP and became a coalition partner in Baluchistan. The present study is an attempt to answer the question, "what were the causative factors of MMA's emergence and whether it achieved what it promised during the election campaign?".

scholarly journals To the History of the Formation of the Indian Parliamentary Committee in the British House of Commons

2021 ◽  
pp. 142-147
Author(s):  
Dmitry S. Nikitin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Election Campaign ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Parliamentary Committee ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Creation ◽  
British Committee ◽  
Indian National Congress

The aim of this article is to study the history of the formation of the Indian Parliamentary Committee (IPC) in the British House of Commons in 1893. To achieve this aim, the following objectives are envisaged: determination of reasons for establishing the IPC; analysis of the activities of the Indian National Congress and British liberals; analysis of the election campaign of Dadabhai Naoroji, which enabled him to get a seat in the House of Commons in 1892. The sources of the study are the pamphlets of the Indian National Congress members, which explain the need for Indian representatives to participate in the British Parliament; records of parliamentary hearings on the Indian issue; materials of the press describing the course of the election campaign of 1892 and the tasks of the Indian Committee in Parliament. In the course of the study, the author came to the following conclusions. The moderate branch in the Indian liberation movement considered the British Rule in India to be a progressive phenomenon in the Indian life. The defects of the British administration were due to the fact that the English people and Parliament did not understand the problems that the Indian population faced under the British Rule. The Parliamentary Committee dealing exclusively with the Indian issue could contribute to solving this problem. The main conductor of this idea in India was the National Congress, which, since its inception, began work on the formation of the IPC. In the late 1880s, an Indian political agency, which intensified attempts to organize an Indian committee in Parliament, was established in London. The interests of the Indians in the House of Commons at that time were defended by the Liberal MP Charles Bradlaugh. On the basis of the proposals of the National Congress, he prepared a bill on Indian councils, which came into force in 1892. Nevertheless, the creation of the Indian Parliamentary Committee became possible only in 1893, when Dadabhai Naoroji and William Wadderburn (founders of the British Committee of the Indian National Congress) were elected to the House of Commons as Liberal MPs. In general, the creation of the IPC was a progressive step in the development of the Indian liberation movement because the IPC gave the moderate nationalists and their British liberal supporters new tools of fighting for the rights of Indian subjects of the British Empire. The appearance of supporters of Indian reforms in Parliament was the evidence of the success of the IPC’s course of expanding political agitation in England, although it did not guarantee significant achievements in solving of the Indian question.

When the Central Player Fails: Constraints on Cabinet Formation in Contemporary India

2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Csaba Nikolenyi
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
National Election ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
National Party ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Congress Party ◽  
General Elections ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The One ◽  
Indian National Congress

From the first post–independence election in 1952 until the general elections of 1989, the Indian National Congress party won a plurality of the votes and a majority of the legislative seats in every national parliamentary election except for the one that was held in 1977. Although the party maintained its dominant position in the national party system for almost four decades, starting in 1967 it gradually lost it at the subnational level. Finally, the 1989 national election brought Congress dominance to a definite end in the national party system as well. Since 1989, Congress has neither remained the consistently strongest electoral party nor has it won a parliamentary majority in any single election.

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