 On March 9, 1917, the Special Transcaucasian Committee was established, with Member of the State Duma V. A. Kharlamov as Chairman, to replace the Imperial Viceroy Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929) on the Caucasian front by the Russian Provisional Government in Transcaucasia as the highest organ of civil administration.Akaki Chkhenkeli of Georgia was its member.In November 1917, the first government of independent Transcaucasia was created in Tbilisi as the "Transcaucasian Commissariat (Transcaucasian Sejm)" replaced the "Transcaucasian Committee" following the Bolshevik seizure of power in St. Petersburg.