In the elections under the Government of India Act, 1935, the mandate of the people came in favour of the Congress. The Congress swept the polls ,so far as general Hindu seats were concerned. Out of the 38 seats reserved for the labour, the Congress contested 20 seats and won 18 seats. Of the 482 seats reserved as Muslim seats, the Congress contested 58 seats and won only 26 seats. For commerce and industry, 56 seats were reserved. The Congress won only 3 seats. In five provinces, Congress had a clear majority.
In Bengal, NWFP, Assam and Bombay, the Congress emerged as the single largest party. Thus, the Congress formed ministries in 7 provinces out of 11 provinces. Coalition ministries were also formed in 2 other provinces. Only Bengal and Punjab had non-Congress ministries. On the other hand, the performance of Muslim League was not better. The Muslim League could not get a single seat in NWFP. In Punjab, the Muslim League got only 2 seats out of the 84 reserved seats.
