The first legislative council election to

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

after the establishment of dyarchical system of government by the

Government of India Act, 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report of ...

, was held in November 1920.

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

boycotted the election due to its participation in the

Non-cooperation movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

. The election occurred during the early stages of non-Brahmin movement and the major issue of the election was anti-

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

ism. Justice party won the election with no significant opposition and

A. Subbarayalu Reddiar Diwan Bahadur Agaram Subbarayalu Reddiar (b. 15 October 1855 – d. November 1921) was a landlord and List of chief ministers of Madras Presidency, Chief Minister or Premier of Madras Presidency from 17 December 1920 to 11 July 1921. Subbaraya ...

became the first Chief Minister of the presidency.

Government of India Act, 1919

Based on the recommendations of the Montague-Chelmsford report, the

Government of India Act of 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report of ...

was enacted. The Act enlarged the provincial legislative councils and increased the number of elected members more than nominated members and company officials. It introduced a system of

dyarchy Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally misspelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate (from Latin ', "the office of ...

in the Provinces. Although this Act brought about representative Government in India, the Governor was empowered with overriding powers. It classified the subjects as belonging to either the Centre or the Provinces. The

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

could override any law passed by the Provincial councils. It brought about the concept of "Partial Responsible Government" in the provinces. Provincial subjects were divided into two categories - reserved and transferred. Education, Sanitation, Local self-government, Agriculture and Industries were listed as the transferred subjects. Law, Finance, Revenue and Home affairs were the reserved subjects. The provincial council could decide the budget in so far it related to the transferred subjects. Executive machinery dealing with those subjects was placed under the direct control of provincial legislature. However, the provincial legislature and the ministers did not have any control over the reserved subjects, which came under the Governor and his Executive council. It introduced for the first time bicameralism and direct elections in the country. Thus the Indian legislative council was replaced by the bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper House (Council Of State) and a Lower House (Legislative Assembly).

Constituencies

The

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

had a total of 127 members in addition to the '' ex - officio'' members of the Governor's Executive Council. Out of the 127, 98 were elected from 61 constituencies of the presidency. The constituencies comprised three arbitrary divisions - 1)communal constituencies such as non-Muhammadan urban, non-Muhammadan rural, non-Brahman urban, Mohamaddan urban, Mohamaddan rural, Indian Christian, European and Anglo-Indian 2)special constituencies such as landholders, Universities, planters and trade associations (South India Chamber of Commerce & Nattukottai Nagarathar Association) and 3) territorial constituencies. 28 of the constituencies were reserved for non-

Brahmans Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru o ...

. 29 members were nominated, out of whom a maximum of 19 would be government officials, 5 would represent the

Paraiyar Paraiyar, or Parayar or Maraiyar (formerly anglicised as Pariah and Paree), is a caste group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and Sri Lanka. Etymology Robert Caldwell, a nineteenth-century missionary and grammarian who ...

Pallar The Pallar, who prefer to be called Mallar, are an agricultural community from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Pallars traditionally inhabited the fertile wetland area referred to as ''Marutham'' in the literary devices of the Sangam landsc ...

Valluvar Thiruvalluvar (Tamil language, Tamil: திருவள்ளுவர்), commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil people, Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of coup ...

, Mala,

Madiga Madiga, also known as Maadiga, Maatangi, Makkalu and Mahadiga, are an artisan community from southern India. They mainly live in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, with a small minority in Tamil Nadu. Madigas are historical ...

Sakkiliar Arunthathiyar is a scheduled caste community mostly found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The term has two distinct usages: for the purposes of the state government's positive discrimination program, in 2009 it was designated an umbrella ...

, Thottiyar, Cheruman and

Holeya Holeya are a scheduled caste of India, mainly belonging to present day Karnataka State,

Electorate and polling

The first general election was held during November 1920. At the time of the election, Madras presidency had a population of 40 million people. The franchise was limited based on property qualifications. 1,248,156 persons were eligible to vote, among whom 303,558 actually cast their votes. The

boycotted the election due to its participation in the

. ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' reported that polling was as low as 12% in some constituencies and no constituencies reported polling higher than 25%. The city of Madras reported the highest turnout with 52% polling and

Mylapore Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...

, a traditionally a Brahmin area had an even higher turnout. The turnout was varied in rural areas, impacted by rain and flooding. The average turnout was 24.9% all over the Presidency. The ''Madras Mail'' reported that the turnout was low compared to elections for British parliament, but nonetheless, an impressive demonstration of growth of political consciousness.

Results

In the absence of significant opposition, the Justice party was able to win 63 seats. Party wise distribution of elected and non elected members: The Justice party claimed the support of 18 non elected members bringing up its strength to 81 in the council.

Analysis

The following table shows communal distribution of the elected and non-elected members. According to P. Rajaraman, the victory of the Justice party can be attributed to three factors - the election boycott of the Congress, which left the Justice party without any serious opponent, the vigorous campaign of Justice leaders and reservation of seats to non-brahman members.

Government formation

At first, Governor Willingdon invited the wealthy P. Theagaroya Chetty, the leader of the justice party to form the government. He refused the offer as he did not like to be paid a salary from people's taxes. He recommended that A. Subbarayalu Reddiar,

Ramarayaningar Raja Sir Panaganti Ramarayaningar KCIE (9 July 1866 – 16 December 1928), also known as the Raja of Panagal, was a ''zamindar'' of Kalahasti, a Justice Party leader and the Chief Minister or Premier of Madras Presidency from 11 July 1921 ...

(Raja of Panagal) and

Kurma Venkata Reddy Naidu Rao Bahadur Sir Kurma Venkatareddy Naidu KCSI (1875–1942) was an Indian lawyer, professor, politician and Justice Party leader who served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 1 April 1937 to 14 July 1937. He was the last Chief Min ...

, all

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

members, be made ministers. Reddiar was appointed as the Chief Minister and as the minister in charge of Education, Public works, Excise & Registration. Ramarayaningar became the minister of local self-government & Public health, while Venkata Reddy Naidu was given the Development portfolio. The ministers assumed office on 17 December 1920. Perungavur Rajagopalachari was appointed as the President of the legislative council and Edwin Periyanayakam,

Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar Sir Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar (14 October 1887 – 17 July 1976) was an Indian lawyer, diplomat, and statesman who was the first president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the 24th and last Diwan of Mysore. He also served as ...

P. Subbarayan Paramasiva Subbarayan (11 September 1889 – 6 October 1962) was an Indian politician, freedom fighter and diplomat and was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, India's ambassador to Indonesia and Union Minister of Transport and Communic ...

were made council secretaries.

C. P. Ramaswami Iyer Sir Chetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer (12 November 1879 – 26 September 1966), popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law ...

was appointed as the Advocate General. The Governor's Executive Council consisted of Sir Lionel Davidson (member for Home), Sir Charles Todhunter (Finance),

Muhammad Habibullah Khan Bahadur Sir Muhammad Habibullah KCSI KCIE (22 September 1869 – 16 May 1948) was an Indian politician and administrator who served as the Dewan of Travancore from 1934 to 1936. Personal life Habibullah was born in Madras (now Chenna ...

(Revenue) and

S. Srinivasa Iyengar Seshadri Srinivasa Iyengar CIE (11 September 1874 – 19 May 1941), also seen as Sreenivasa Iyengar and Srinivasa Ayyangar, was an Indian lawyer, freedom-fighter and politician from the Indian National Congress. Iyengar was the Advocate-Genera ...

(Law). On 11 July 1921, Raja of Panagal took over as Chief Minister when Subbarayalu Reddiar resigned on health grounds and

A. P. Patro Rao Bahadur Sir Annepu Parasuramdas Patro Order of the Indian Empire, KCIE (1875 or 1876–1946) was an Indian politician, ''zamindar'' and education minister in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. Patro was born in a rich and powerful family of ...

, an Orissa lawyer was appointed as the minister of Education. The council was dissolved at the end of its term on 11 September 1923.

Impact

The Justice party which came into existence in 1916 was able to capture power on social development and non-Brahmin platform. It would go on to rule Madras till the 1937 elections (with an interlude during 1926–30). Noting the significance of its victory, the Official review of the Government of India (1921–22) said: Some of the legislative initiatives of the first Justice Government have had a lasting impact and are still in practice in one form or another. On 16 September 1921, the Justice government passed the first communal government order (G. O. # 613), thereby becoming the first elected body in the Indian legislative history to legislate reservations, which have since become standard policy in India. Similarly, the Madras Hindu Religious Endowment Act, introduced on 18 December 1922, brought many of the Hindu Temples under the direct control of the state government. This Act, which was eventually passed by the second Justice Government in 1925, set the precedent for several later Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR & CE) Acts and the current policy of the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. The Government of India Act of 1919 had restricted women from becoming legislators. The first Justice Government reversed this policy by moving a resolution in the council on 1 April 1921. The qualifications for becoming a member of the council were made gender neutral. This resolution cleared the way for Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi's nomination to the council in 1926, when she became the first woman to become a member of any legislature in India. The

Mid-day Meal Scheme The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme in India designed to better the nutritional standing of school-age children nationwide. The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in government primary and upper primary sc ...

, was first introduced in 1920 by the Madras Corporation with the approval of the legislative council, as a breakfast scheme in a corporation school at Thousand Lights,

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. Later it was expanded to four more schools. This was the precursor to the free noon meal schemes introduced by

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...

in 1960's and expanded by

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

in the 1980s.

References

{{Tamil Nadu assembly elections, state=expanded

Elections in Madras Presidency