When were separate electorates created for the Muslims in India for the first time at the national level?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → 1909
Separate electorates for Muslims were created by the colonial government in 1909 and expanded in 1919.
Note: This question is taken from the chapter ‘Understanding Partition’ which was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT and has been deleted from subsequent editions of NCERT, including the NCERT book (2026-27).
NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “3.1 Culminating point of a long history? … Some scholars see Partition as a culmination of a communal politics that started developing in the opening decades of the twentieth century. They suggest that separate electorates for Muslims, created by the colonial government in 1909 and expanded in 1919, crucially shaped the nature of communal politics. Separate electorates meant that Muslims could now elect their own representatives in designated constituencies.…” |