(EDITORIAL) The Muslim League’s victory in the Mardan by-election must have come as a rude shock to Dr. Khan Sahib and the Hindu Congress … . It was a rash moment when the Frontier Premier had boastfully denied in Delhi some weeks ago that the Muslim League was gaining in strength in the N.-W.F.P. and had declared that the Mardan by-election result would show that the Congress still retains its hold on the Pathans. Mardan has shown something very different. Indeed, the quality of the League’s victory is by no means assessable by the quantity of votes cast in favour of its candidate, because the 8,941 voters who backed the Muslim League exercised their independent choice even at the risk of incurring grave practical displeasure of the Congress Ministry and its local henchmen, while the bulk of the 8,353 who put their ballots into the other box did so out of duress.

We had occasion recently to comment on the questionable tactics which the Congress Ministry were pursuing in order to intimidate voters in the Kamalzai constituency … . [T]he Premier himself had threatened landlords and others with imprisonment if they “interfered” with the free choice of their tenants.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2022