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On 21 June 1955, seven years after theindependence of Pakistan, the election for theSecond Constituent Assembly was held through the votes of provincial members of all provinces of the country. The resulting Assembly remained in existence until 1958, when it was dissolved following the imposition of military rule by the interim presidentIskander Mirza.[1][2][3]
On 24 October 1954, governor-generalMalik Ghulam Muhammaddissolved the first Constituent Assembly, leading to another Constituent Assembly election in theDominion of Pakistan. Because there was no constitution or procedures for a general election, the election was conducted indirectly through members of the provincial assemblies. Multiple political parties from both Eastern and Western Pakistan participated in the election.
As the founding party of the country, thePakistan Muslim League (PML) achieved significant dominance in the Western provinces. However, inEast Bengal, parties such as theAll-Pakistan Awami League (AL) and theUnited Front (UF) won seats, intensifying political competition. As no single party secured a majority, the PML and UF formed a coalition government. The new Constituent Assembly draftedPakistan's first constitution in 1956, which declared the country an Islamic Republic.
In 1947, members ofPakistan's Constituent Assembly wereelected indirectly by Muslim legislators from the Muslim-majority provinces ofBritish India. However, after Pakistan's independence, this composition changed following provincial elections:West Punjab and theNorth-West Frontier in 1951,Sindh in 1953, andEast Bengal in 1954.[4] In three provinces, thePakistan Muslim League (PML) achieved majority. However, the exception was East Bengal where a four-party coalition namedUnited Front[a] (UF) won the most seats.[6]
As a result, the legislative assemblies ofWest Punjab and theNorth-West Frontier Province demanded that theConstituent Assembly members be replaced with newly elected provincial legislators. TheEast Bengal Assembly further called for the complete dissolution of the existing Constituent Assembly and fresh elections. On 8 April 1954,Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan supported this demand, urging that new members fromEast Bengal be included in a reconstituted Assembly. Their demands were opposed by the PML and its leader and prime ministerMohammad Ali Bogra, who resisted the inclusion of new East Bengal members to maintain his political position.[4] At the time, there was dispute among politicians aboutOne Unit Scheme as East Bengal had the significant population to dominate the national politics. TheBengali–Punjabi controversy was slowing down the constitution making process.[7]
Tensions peaked on 24 October 1954, when governor-generalMalik Ghulam Muhammad dissolved the Constituent Assembly. This move came after the Assembly passed legislation limiting his powers, making them subject to cabinet decisions and enhancing the prime minister's authority. The new law also revoked the governor-general's authority to dissolve the Assembly.[4] The governor-general proclaimed to held elections for the Constituent Assembly and directed prime minister to reform central cabinet.[8] In response,Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, president of the dissolved Assembly, challenged the action byfiling a case in thefederal court.[4]
Thesudden dissolution created uncertainty regarding how a new Constituent Assembly would be elected within a short time. Since Pakistan had no constitution at the time, and theIndian Independence Act did not contain any provision related to elections for the assembly, the government faced legal challenges, making direct elections impossible.[b] Consequently, the governor-general announced that a "Constitutional Convention" would be summoned through indirect elections.[4]
On 10 May 1955,[10] the Federal Court dismissed Tamizuddin Khan's case and declared that the governor-general's assent was essential for any legislation to be valid.[4] It ruled that the governor-general had the power to dissolve the Constituent Assembly and that there was no scope for the creation of any representative body called the Constitutional Convention.[10] The court directed the government to form new constituent assembly by elections.[11] On 22 May 1955, the governor-general validated the 1949 Constituent Assembly Act and restructured and increased the number of assembly seats.[12] In 28 May, a special issue of theGazette of Pakistan announced that the Constituent Assembly elections would be held on 21 June 1955.[13]
In Western Pakistan, a rebel faction of the PML led byFeroz Khan Noon contested the elections inWest Punjab under the same party name – here referred to asPML (Noon), later taking the nameRepublican Party – against the 30 officially approved candidates of the PML. Meanwhile, in theNorth-West Frontier Province,Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan became a rebel candidate against the party, while theAll-Pakistan Awami League (AL) also participated in the elections from the province under the leadership ofAmin ul-Hasanat.[c][14] However, the AL candidates later withdrew their nominations.[15] From West Punjab,Mian Abdul Bari, a member of All-Pakistan Awami League, contested as an independent politician.[16] In the province ofBaluchistan,Sardar Muhammad Anwar Jan Khetran, opposition leader of theShahi Jirga (the grand council of tribal elders), contested againstKhan Abdul Jabbar Khan.[17]
In East Bengal, a parliamentary committee of the UF was formed for the election, headed byA. K. Fazlul Huq. The alliance decided to nominate individuals from outside the legislature.[18] Additionally, the PML decided to field candidates in the province and called a parliamentary committee meeting in 12 June.[19] Meanwhile, a dispute arose in the province between provincial leaderAbdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and central leaderHuseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy over the list of candidates from the AL.[20] A total of 26 candidates were nominated from the UF and 18 from the AL; Mohammad Ali Bogra was the only PML candidate in the province.[21]
On 21 June 1955, in West Punjab, 12 candidates from the PML, 2 from the PML (Noon), and 1 candidate from the minority community were declared elected.[22] Based on two rounds ofpreferential voting by 104 members of the legislatures in Western Pakistan, 21 out of 26 elected candidates were members of the PML. Among the elected, 1 was from theFederal Capital Territory (FCT), 5 fromSindh, 15 from West Punjab, 4 from the North-West Frontier Province, and 1 from Baluchistan. The PML won all Muslim seats from the FCT, Sindh, Baluchistan, and North-West Frontier Province.[23] The primary result excluded the names of 6 more elected members from West Punjab. In 22 June, the names were announced. Three of them were from the PML.[24][25] On the same day, based on the votes of 300 legislative members from East Bengal, 16 candidates from the UF, 12 from the AL, 4 from thePakistan National Congress (PNC), 3 from theEast Bengal Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF), 2 from theUnited Progressive Party (UPP), 2 independents, and 1 from the PML were declared elected.[26]
In total, 76 members were elected: 25 from the PML, 16 from the UF, 12 from the AL, 3 from the PML (Noon), 4 from the PNC, 2 from the UPP, 3 from the East Bengal SCF, and 7 Independents.[25] Members of Constituent Assembly were elected by themembers of provincial assemblies, with the exception of the FCT whose only member was elected by theKarachi Municipal Committee.[27][28]
 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
| Pakistan Muslim League | 25 | |||
| United Front | 16 | |||
| All-Pakistan Awami League | 12 | |||
| Pakistan National Congress | 4 | |||
| Pakistan Muslim League (Noon) | 3 | |||
| East Bengal Scheduled Castes Federation | 3 | |||
| United Progressive Party | 2 | |||
| Independents | 7 | |||
| Total | 72 | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 404 | – | ||
| Source:The Azad[25] | ||||
At first, UF leader A. K. Fazlul Huq opposed the decision to hold a constitutional convention and demanded the formation of a new Constituent Assembly through a vote by legislative members.[29] A mission from Karachi failed to convince him to support the convention. AL leader Huseyn Shaheed, then the law minister, expressed concern that UF opposition could invalidate the convention and lead to martial law or an armed revolution in Pakistan.[30] Following his statement, the UF severed ties with him and suspendedAtaur Rahman Khan,Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, andAbul Mansur Ahmad of the AL from the alliance.[31] Meanwhile, Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, leader of theEast Pakistan Awami League, conditionally accepted the convention on the basis that the UF's 21-point demands be implemented and thatproposed constitution be written in both Urdu and Bengali.[32] Later, with Suhrawardy's assurances, the party gave its unconditional consent to join the convention.[33] On 17 May 1955, A. K. Fazlul Huq announced a province-wide campaign for the elections.[34] Politician Feroz Khan Noon criticized the voting method, calling it a "Gestapo method", and alleged that although the federal court had ordered secrecy of the ballot, it was absent in this election and voters' choices could be known.[35] Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy claimed that there was electoral fraud in the provincial elections of West Punjab, North-West Frontier and princely stateBahwalpur and as the new Constituent Assembly members are elected by provincial members, the PML members of the Constituent Assembly are unrepresentative.[36]
In the election, political parties failed to secure a majority to form the central government.[37] After the election, Mohammad Ali Bogra expressed interest in forming a coalition with the UF.[38] However, the PML rejected the conditions set by the UF, leading to the failure of the coalition efforts. Meanwhile, the AL initially agreed to form a coalition government on the condition that Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy should be made prime minister.[39] In July 1955, the AL and the UF made a pact[e] in the hill town ofMurree, West Punjab, to support the PML on the conditions that political leaders from East Bengal be included in the central cabinet and that governor's rule be withdrawn from the province.[37]
The Constituent Assembly session began on 7 July 1955 in Murree.[40] With the support of the PNC, East Bengal SCF, and the UPP, the UF gained a total of 25 supporters in the Assembly.[41]
On 7 August 1955, afterChaudhri Muhammad Ali was elected the PML parliamentary leader in the Constituent Assembly, Mohammad Ali Bogra resigned from the post of prime minister.[42] At that time, an attempt was made to form a tripartite coalition government, and the AL made no immediate objections[43][f] but later rejected the proposal. As a result, in 11 August, a coalition cabinet was formed under the leadership of Chaudhri Muhammad Ali, consisting of members from the PML and the UF – the country's first coalition cabinet.[45] In the assembly, Suhrawardy became theopposition leader.[36] On 5 March 1956,Iskander Mirza waselected in an indirect election as interim president of Pakistan, previously serving as governor-general of the country.[46] On 23 March 1956, Pakistan's first constitution was enforced and theBritish dominion became an Islamic Republic. Mirza's presidency began that same day.[47] After that, thefederal government refrained from holding general elections and, with the aid of the administration, maintained a façade of democracy until 1958. Subsequently, martial law was imposed by Mirza, and both the government and parliament were dissolved.[1][2]
The initial formation of the cabinet established on 11 August 1955 is given below:[48]
| Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth, Finance, Defence and Economic Affairs | 11 August 1955 | 12 September 1956 | PML | ||
| Ministry of Communications and Frontier Regions | 11 August 1955 | 14 October 1955 | PML | ||
| Ministry of Home Affairs | 11 August 1955 | 9 March 1956 | UF | ||
| Ministry of Industries and Commerce | 11 August 1955 | 12 September 1956 | Independent | ||
| Ministry of Education and Kashmir Affairs | 11 August 1955 | 14 October 1955 | PML | ||
| Ministry of Health and Law | 11 August 1955 | 12 September 1956 | UPP | ||
| Ministry of Labour, Works and Minority Affairs | 11 August 1955 | 12 September 1956 | UF | ||
| Ministry of Information and Broadcasting | 11 August 1955 | 29 August 1956 | PML | ||
| Ministry of Food and Agriculture | 11 August 1955 | 12 September 1956 | UF | ||
| Finance Division | 11 August 1955 | 12 September 1956 | UF | ||
| Refugees, Rehabilitation and Parliamentary Affairs Division | 11 August 1955 | 12 September 1956 | PML | ||
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