1937 Indian provincial elections

1937 Indian provincial elections

← 1934 1937 1946 →
1585 provincial seats contested
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jawaharlal Nehru Muhammad Ali Jinnah Sikandar Hayat Khan Party INC AIML Unionist Party Seats won 711 106 101

Provincial elections were held in British India in the winter of 1936–37 as mandated by the Government of India Act 1935. Elections were held in eleven provinces - Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, the United Provinces, the Bombay Presidency, Assam, the North-West Frontier Province, Bengal, Punjab and Sind.

The final results of the elections were declared in February 1937. The Indian National Congress emerged in power in seven of the provinces, Bombay, Madras, the Central Provinces, the United Provinces, the North-West Frontier Province, Bihar, and Orissa. The exceptions were Bengal, where the Congress was nevertheless the largest party, Punjab, Sindh, and Assam. The All-India Muslim League failed to form the government in any province.

The Congress ministries resigned in October and November 1939, in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's action of declaring India to be a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the elected representatives of the Indian peoples.