<P> The Swaraj Party was formed on 9 January 1923 by Indian politicians and members of the Indian National Congress who had opposed Mahatma' s suspension of all civil resistance on 5 February 1922 in response to the Chauri Chaura tragedy, where policemen were killed by a mob of protestors . Gandhi felt responsible for the killings, reproached himself for not emphasizing non-violence more firmly, and feared that the entire Non-Cooperation Movement could degenerate into an orgy of violence between the British - controlled army and police and mobs of freedom - fighters, alienating and hurting millions of common Indians . He went on a fast - unto - death to convince all Indians to stop civil resistance . The Congress and other nationalist groups disavowed all activities of disobedience . </P> <P> But many Indians felt that the Non-Cooperation Movement should not have been suspended over an isolated incident of violence, and that its astonishing success was actually close to breaking the back of British rule in India . These people became disillusioned with Gandhi's political judgments and instincts . </P> <P> Gandhi and most of the Congress party rejected the provincial and central legislative councils created by the British to offer some participation for Indians . They argued that the councils were rigged with un-elected allies of the British, and too un-democratic and simply "rubber stamps" of the Viceroy . </P> <P> In December 1922, Chittaranjan Das, Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar and Motilal Nehru formed the Congress - Khilafat Swarajaya Party with Das as the president and Nehru as one of the secretaries . Other prominent leaders included Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Subhas Chandra Bose of Bengal, Vithalbhai Patel and other Congress leaders who were becoming dissatisfied with the Congress . The other group was the' No - Changers', who had accepted Gandhi's decision to withdraw the movement . </P>

Swarajists decided to seek election with the object of