In the Provincial Assembly elections, 1937, Congress formed government in which of the following provinces? 1. Bengal 2. Assam 3. North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) 4. Punjab 5. Sindh Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

The correct answer is 2 and 3 only . Key Points Provincial elections were held in British India in the winter of 1936-37 as mandated by the Government of India Act 1935. Elections were held in eleven provinces - Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab and Sindh. The final results of the elections were declared in February 1937. Congress won 716 out of 1161 seats it contested. There were 1585 seats in the legislative assemblies of all eleven provinces. It got a majority in all provinces except in Bengal, Assam, Punjab, Sindh and the NWFP. But, it emerged as the largest party in Bengal, Assam and the NWFP. In Bengal, Congress was the largest party (with 52 seats). But the Krishak Praja Party of A. K. Fazlul Huq (with 36 seats) was able to form a coalition government with the support of the Muslim League. The Indian National Congress, therefore, emerged in power in eight of the provinces - the exceptions being Punjab and Sindh. Hence, only 2 and 3 are correct. Because of this performance, the prestige of the Congress rose and Nehru was reconciled to the dominant strategy of Struggle-Truce-Struggle. In Bengal, although Muslim League was the single largest party, but did not have a majority. The All-India Muslim League was unable to create a government in any of the provinces. In October and November 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest over Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's decision to declare India a belligerent in World War II without consulting the Indian people. These elections were the first in which a larger number of Indians than ever before were eligible to participate. An estimated 30.1 million persons, including 4.25 million women had been enfranchised ( 14% of the total population ), and 15.5 million of these, including 917,000 women, actually exercised their franchise, according to reports.