Changing Dynamic of Electoral Trends in British India: A Case Study of Elections (1946) and Referendum (1947) in NWFP

Abstract

61 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XXXVI, No.3, Spring 2013 Changing Dynamic of Electoral Trends in British India: A Case Study of Elections (1946) and Referendum (1947) in NWFP *Muhammad Shakeel Ahmad *Fazal Rabbi Theoretical Frame Work Electoral politics is the vital part of political participation in affairs of any state elections operates and how people behave. This study investigated citizens’ interaction with each other. Electoral politics in NWFP1 during the 1946 elections and referendum in 1947 had different dimensions of a sociopolitical nature, tenants-landlords relations, and parties’ electoral play. During 1946 elections, All India National Congress with the help of Khudai Khidmatgars2 used influential people in the Frontier society to win elections. These influential people used Congress to obtain larger benefits in their constituencies from district administration to serve their own interests. During the elections, socio-economic status, religion, family influence, and the state of the national, local and provincial affairs affected political *Muhammad Shakeel Ahmad is an Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad. He did his PhD (Electoral Politics in NWFP: 1988-1999) from the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University. He also worked in the department of Pakistan Studies, Allam Iqbal Open University, Islamabad 2007-2011. *Fazal Rabbi is a PhD scholar in the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. His dissertation dealt with “Pakistan United States Relations in the Post-Cold war”. He worked with the Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. 1 NWFP (North West Frontier Province) of Pakistan is now renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the 18th constitutional amendment. 2 Khudai Khidmatgars means the Servants of God, was a nonviolent civil disobedience movement against British Rule. The movement was started by Pashtuns under the leadership of Bacha Khan (Abdul Gaffar Khan), in 1930. 62 attitudes, however people’s conscious feelings about parties, issues and candidates determine of voting behavior.3 Throughout one’s life a variety of influences determine political outlook. It was assumed that parents transmitted their partisanship to their children through the process of political socialization.4 In the NWFP paternal political influence on electoral politics is deeply rooted in Pakhto (Pakhtuns codes of life).5 This paternal influence shows itself in the younger generations in Pakhtun society6 . Rapidly changed voting behavior during 1946 elections and referendum in 1947 were analyzed on the basis of four models. The Sociological model, known as School of Columbia7 , is focused on the influences of social factors. During the 1946 elections in NWFP it seemed that voters would vote for a candidate that looked like them and shared ethnicity, religion and social-economic status. The psychosocial model also identified as School of Michigan,8 and assumed that party identification is the main factor behind voting behaviour. The Michigan Model is a party identification model. People vote because they belong to a certain party. The Rational choice9 theory, or model also referred to as a model of economic voting, or even as the School of Rochester, whose landmark work is the work of Anthony Downs (1957) stressed variables such as rationality, choice, uncertainty and information. The major problem with this model is the amount of information needed for it to work. The Retrospective Model10 , has voters vote on past and present aspects of the incumbent government. The popularity of the current government is apparently important. 3 Robert S. Erikson, Norman R. Luttbeg and Kent L. Tedin, American Public Opinion: Its origins , content and impact (Toronto: John Wiley and Sons, 1980), 301. 4 Ibid, 51. 5 Pakhto is the code of life of Pakhtun society in which honour, dignity, spirituality, nationalism are the main pillars. 6 Ajmal Khattak, Interview by author, Nowshera, March 23, 2005. 7 Columbia School Model is based on Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, Hazel Gaudet, The People’s Choice; How the Voter makes up his mind in a Presidential Campaign, New York: Columbia University Press, 1968. 8 Michigan Model is based on the study of Angus Campbell, Philip E Converse, Warren E Miller, Donald E Stokes, The American Voter, New York: Wiley & Sons, 1960. 9 Rational choice theory is based on Anthony Downs...