Suhrawardy ministry

In 1943, under the leadership of Khawaja Nazimuddin, the parliamentary leader of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League (BPML), a branch of the All-India Muslim League (AIML), a provincial cabinet was formed in Bengal Province of British India. Around the same time, the Pakistan Resolution of the AIML was gaining popularity among the Muslims of the province, and the political party itself was growing in influence. Simultaneously, Nazimuddin's cabinet was increasingly criticized by the opposition for administrative corruption and failure to address the Bengal famine of 1943. As a result, Nazimuddin's influence within the BPML began to wane, while the influence of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy started to rise. Although Nazimuddin's ministry enjoyed support from the British authorities, the party lost a no-confidence motion after losing 21 assembly members in 1945. Consequently, Syed Nausher Ali, the Speaker of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, declared the dissolution of the cabinet after a parliamentary vote. Although the BPML won in the 1946 Bengal Legislative Assembly election, it failed to secure an absolute majority. Despite attempting to form a coalition cabinet with the Bengal Provincial Congress (BPC), the provincial branch of the Indian National Congress (INC), the effort was unsuccessful. Eventually, on 24 April 1946, a cabinet was formed under the leadership of Suhrawardy with seven ministers.^[2] Later, on 21 November 1946, with the removal of one and the addition of four members, the cabinet was expanded and responsibilities were redistributed.^[3]

In 1947, the INC and the AIML agreed to the partition of India, leading to the creation of the modern states of India and Pakistan. In 20 June of the same year, when an election was held regarding the second partition of Bengal, the majority of votes in the Bengal Legislative Assembly were in favor of the partition. However, at that time, Suhrawardy's cabinet remained in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal Province. In 27 June, an emergency session of the Working Committee of the BPML decided to establish the capital of the proposed Pakistani Bengal in Dacca.^[4] In 3 July, under the leadership of Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, the leader of the BPC, a shadow cabinet was formed for the future state of West Bengal.^[5] In 18 July, the Indian Independence Act was passed in the Parliament of the United Kingdom and received royal assent, clearing the way for the partition of Bengal Province into the Indian state of West Bengal and the Pakistani province of East Bengal.^[4] On 5 August 1947, Suhrawardy lost the parliamentary leadership election of the BPML by 36 votes, and Khawaja Nazimuddin was elected the new leader.^[6] On 15 August 1947, the day after Pakistan's independence, a new cabinet was formed in Dacca, the capital of the newly created province of East Bengal, under the leadership of Nazimuddin.^[7] On the other hand, following India's independence on 15 August 1947, the shadow cabinet of West Bengal became the state’s first official government.^[5]