GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24914, 29 June 1946, Page 7

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

MR JINNAH ASKS FOR POSTPONEMENT

(Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW DELHI. June 27. The president of the All-India Moslem League (Mr Jinnah) has asked the Viceroy (Lord Wavell) to postpone the elections for the Constituent Assembly. Two members of the British Cabinet' Mission saw Mr Jinnah to-day. All three members of the mission will return to London to-morrow. Mr Jirinah said to-day that the Moslem League emphatically disapproved of the mission’s decision to postpone indefinitely the formation of an interim government on the basis of its statement Of June 16. “It is very difficult to see what are the mysterious reasons. for this sudden departure,” he said. Mr Jinnah added that there were clear indications that the Congress Party would not accept the long-term, proposals in a sincere, honest spirit of co-operation and peaceful settlement. “If they persist in this the whole plan will be wrecked at the very inception,” he said

“The Congress Party has sent instructions on the selection of candidates for the Constituent Assembly to the Premiers of the eight provinces in which the Congress Party is in power,” says Reuter’s correspondent in New Delhi. It is understood that the keynote of the instructions was that the candidates should be as representative as possible. Mr Gandhi, who is not standing for the assembly, has assured the working committee of the Congress Party of his full cooperation.