ABSTRACT
The Government of India Act of 1935 took effect on April 1, 1937. Elections for the new legislative assemblies and in some provinces, including Bengal, to the legislative councils were held during the winter of 1936-1937. The Congress would be the principal contestant for the general seats. The landlords and other members of the national elite formed the United Muslim Party which folded itself into the Muslim League at the urging of a non-Bengali businessman, Mirza Abol Hasan Ispahani, who was a close associate of Jinnah. A number of independent Muslims and those given as others chose to join one of the two Muslim parties following the election. Thus the strength of the Muslim League rose to sixty and that of the Krishak Praja Party (KPP) to fifty-eight. The Muslim League in Bengal, led by the national elite, campaigned on the partition issue; local issues such as zamindari abolition were neglected.
