Ganga Saran Explained

Rai Bahadur Ganga Saran was an Indian trade unionist and politician from Punjab.[1] He was a member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly (British India) and both the Constituent Assembly of India and the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.

In the 1946 Punjab Provincial Assembly election, Saran won as an independent candidate from a non-constituency seat reserved for Punjab Trade and Labour Unions.[2] He was a member of the National Liberal Federation of India.[3] Saran intended to stay in Pakistan after Pakistan, and became a member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly.[4] On 4 July 1947, he was elected by the non-Muslim members of the (yet-undivided) Punjab Assembly to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.[5]

A couple of months later, Saran migrated to India and on 1 November 1947, became a member of East Punjab Legislative Assembly.[6] Despite, he did not resign from the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. In January 1949, the "Committee on Addition and/or Redistribution of Seats", while recommending the dissolution of the two vacant non-Muslim seats in the Assembly, hinted that it was constitutionally suspect whether Saran was entitled to retain his seat.

In 1951, Saran supported Bhim Sen Sachar in a factional feud against then-Chief-Minister Gopi Chand Bhargava.

Notes and References

  1. Bangash . Yaqoob Khan . 2022-07-04 . Anglo-Indians and the Punjab Partition: Identity, Politics, and the Creation of Pakistan . The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History . 51 . 124–155 . 10.1080/03086534.2022.2086202 . 0308-6534. free .
  2. Home Political. National Archive of India. https://www.abhilekh-patal.in/jspui/handle/123456789/2717131. HOME_POLITICAL_I_1945_NA_F-79-46. Press Infromation [sic] Bureau's Morgue and Ref Series: (1) Analysis of the Results of General Elections to the Central and Provincial Legislatures Held In 1945-46 (2) Indian Political Parties, and (3) Provincial Minstries 1937-45.
  3. Report of The Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Session of the National Liberal Federation of India . March 1945.
  4. Web site: Government of Punjab . First Legislative Assembly of Punjab (August 15, 1947 to January 25, 1949) .
  5. News: 5 July 1947 . Punjab Speaker Defeated: Pakistan Assembly . 8 . Times of India . .
  6. East Punjab Legislative Assembly Official Debates: 1st November 1947 . 1947 . East Punjab Government Press . 1 . 1.