ABSTRACT
The Sylhet Referendum was a little-known plebiscite that the British government organized in the Sylhet district of colonial Assam on 6 and 7 July 1947 ostensibly to allow its people to decide if they would join the Dominion of India or Pakistan upon the imminent Partition of the Indian subcontinent. As a Muslim-majority district within the Hindu-majority Assam, Sylhet’s demographics defied a clear-cut prescription for a convenient demarcation. The rest of Assam would become a part of India. Thus, Sylhet was drawn into the crosswinds of Partition at the eleventh hour and became the site of one of the only two referendums that were organized on the Partition issue, the other being in the North-West Frontier Province. The result of the Referendum was announced on 14 July, that a total of 239,619 votes were cast in favour of joining East Pakistan, and 184,041 for remaining in India. On 17 August, it was announced that Sylhet would be ceded to East Pakistan except for a small area (currently a part of Cachar district of Assam) measuring 709 square miles, and a total population of about 2 million, which would remain as a part of Assam. Subsequently, the district of Sylhet disappeared from the map of India forever and it became a part of East Pakistan (later Bangladesh).
