PAKISTAN OBSERVER
23rd June 1955
Single party Majority for UF In East Bengal
Top First preference vote For Fazlul Huq
Huq Choudhury, Suhrawardy, Ali & Rahman Among Elected
(By A Staff Reporter)
Forty persons were declared elected to the Pakistan Constituent Assembly from East Bengal, after a little over 13 hours of counting votes ended at 11 p. m. last night (Wednesday). Of 40 elected, 16 are from the United Front, 12 from the Awami League, 4 Congress, 2 United Progressive party, 3 scheduled Castes Federation, I Muslim League, I Communist and I Independent. Twenty four candidates, 19 Muslims and 5 non-Muslims, did not receive any vote and, as such, they were out. Mr. Fazlur Rahman, former Commerce Minister of Pakistan, who had resigned from the Muslim League, returned as an independent candidate. The counting of votes started shortly after 10 a. m. yesterday in the presence of the representatives of the contesting parties and continued till 11-10 P. m. Candidates finally declared elected were as follows:
UNITED FRONT: 16
Messrs A. K. Fazlul Huq; Moulana Atahar Ali; Hamidul Huq. Choudhury; Yusuf Ali Choudhury; Abdul latif Biswas; Nurul Huq Choudhury; Abdul Karim; Abdul Wahab Khan; Abdus Sattar; Lutfur Rahman Khan; Mahfuzul Huq; Mahmud Ali; Abdul Aleem; Syed Mesbahuddin Hussain; Adel Uddin and Farid Ahmed.
The United Front nominated 26 candidates for election to the Constituent Assembly.
AWAMI LEAGUE: 12
Out of the 16 candidates nominated for election, the Awami League secured 12 seats.
Messrs H. S. Suhrawardy; Ataur Rahman Khan; Abul Mansur Ahmed; Zahiruddin; Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; Nurur Rahman; Deldar Ahmed; Abdur Rashid Tarkabagist; Abdur Rahman Khan; Mozaffar Ahmed; Moslem Ali Molla and Abdul Khaleque.
Pakistan National Congress: 4
Messrs Basanta Kumar Das; Bhupendra Kumar Datta; Kanteswar Barman and Peter Paul Gomez.
U.PPP:2
Dr. Sailendra Kumar Sen and Mr. Kamini Kumar Datta. Scheduled Caste Federation: 3 Messrs Akshoy Kumar Das; Rasaraj Mandal and Gour Chandra Bala.
Muslim League:1
Mr. Mohammed Ali (Prime Minister of Pakistan).
Communist:1
Mr. Sardar Fazlul Karim.
INDEPENDENT:1
Mr. Fazlur Rahman (former Commerce Minister of Pakistan). According to the first preference, Mr. A. K. Kazlul Huq, leader of the United Front Party, topped by securing 104 votes. He was the first to be declared elected from East Bengal to the new Constituent Assembly. Pakistan Law Minister, Mr. H. S. Suhrawardy, secured 93 first preference votes. Prime Minister, Mr. Mohammed Ali, secured 18 first preference votes, Sardar Fazlul Karim (Communist) received nine, Akshoy Kumar Das received 11 and Basanta Kumar Das (Congress) secured 7 first Preference votes.