inhabitants of India and they converted their faith after Musl ims came to India.

In this
case India is their home land and they do not have any right to ask a separate homeland.
Jinnah dismissed his arguments on the basis of modern democratic principles.

Simla Conference 1945:

In 1945 the Viceroy of India Lord Wavell decided to conduct new elections. For
this purpose an administrative setup was required to conduct elections. To form this setup
he invited major political parties to Simla. He said that in the interim setup there would
be equal number of Muslims and Hindus.
To discuss the working and formulation of this interim setup Lord Wavell invited
major political parties to Simla in June 1945. Everyone agreed to the principle of having
a council. However the discussion came on a standstill on the point of nomi nations. The
main issue was the nomination of Muslim members. Muslim League was claiming that
all the Muslim members would be nominated by us. On the other hand Congress was
claiming that they have a large number of Muslim members and they represent Muslim s
as well, so Congress also has the right to nominate Muslim members.
Muslim League was in an awkward position because it cannot claim that they
represent Hindus as well. However Jinnah gave one name of a Hindu member to
represent Muslim League. The dispute between the parties was not resolved and the
conference ended without achieving its goals. Dr. M. Moiz Khan
Assistant Professor
Dept. of History, University of Karachi
Winter Elections 1945-46: 0322-2391591, moiz200@yahoo.com

In 1945 British conducted general elections for new governments across India.
The results of these elections were like a new life for Muslim League. The league got
convincing victory across India. In central legislative assembly the League was
successful in winning all Muslim seats which means it was a 100% victory for Muslim
league. In the provinces they were able to get 87% of total Muslims seats.
Before the elections Congress was confident that they would get a large number
of Muslim votes and that is why they used to portray t hemselves as the true
representatives of Muslims of India. These elections officially brought Muslim League
on the equal footings with Congress. Now Muslim League has earned the right to talk
on behalf of all Muslims of India. This convincing victory also strengthened the demand
of Pakistan, because people voted for Muslim League which had a single demand of
Pakistan.
The results of winter elections also bring into prominence the leadership qualities
of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Since the loss of the election in 1937 Jinnah had taken full
charge of Muslim League and had taken the League to new heights. Th e results of Winter
Elections were the confirmation of the fact that Jinnah’s leadership was very important
for the Muslims of sub-continent.

Dr. M. Moiz Khan

Assistant Professor
Dept. of History, University of Karachi
58 0322-2391591, moiz200@yahoo.com