together with ahmadu bello, who held the hereditary title of "sardauna" of sokoto, they proposed the transformation of the cultural organization, jam'iyyar mutanen arewa, which means northern people's congress (npc) in english, to become a political platform for use as campaign platform during the elections of 1951. balewa was elected vice president of the new party and subsequently resigned his post as headmaster of bauchi middle school. npc won the plurality of votes to the regional house of assembly in 1951. balewa was among the new legislators in kaduna. under a new constitution, the macpherson constitution of 1951, an electoral college system was implemented whereby, some regional legislators were elected to the federal house of representatives in lagos, and among the federal legislators, three members from each region would be appointed federal ministers with portfolio. balewa was among those nominated to lagos and along with kashim ibrahim and muhammadu ribadu were nominated to become ministers.