Vol. 15 · pages 151–155

134 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES of the seats among the various constituent elements from which the Upper House is to be drawn. For instance, one-third are to be elected by municipalities, district boards and such other local bodies in the State as Parliament may by law specify. Further, one-twelfth are to be elected by persons residing in the State who have been at least three years graduates : then one-twelfth to be elected by teachers in educational institutions recognised by the State ; one-third by the Legislative Assembly itself; and the remainder to be nominated by the Governor amongst certain classes of persons who have been specified in clause (5) of article 171. Consequently very little really remains for Parliament to do. As a matter of fact, what remains for Parliament to do is to define what are the other local bodies which are to be selected for the purpose or being constituencies to send Members to this upper chamber. The second thing that is left to be defined is the equivalent of a graduate. When one is graduate of a University no question arises ; but there may be others who have not gone to the Universities and may have equivalent qualifications. What is that equivalent also remains to be determined. Thirdly, we have to define what is an educational institution which would qualify a teacher for being elector and also prescribe the registration of voters. The local bodies other than municipalties and district boards which are to participate in the elections are set down in the Fourth Schedule which hon. Members will find on page 10. This Schedule has been prepared in consultation with the various State Governments. Hon. Members will see that in all cases municipalties and district boards have been specified. In fact, we cannot go against that provision which is in the Constitution. It is only with regard to other bodies mentioned therein under each State that any question or argument can arise whether that particular body should or should not be included under the head “local authority” With regard to the question of finding the equivalent of a graduate and defining an educational institution which would qualify a teacher to vote, it is felt that the best thing

135PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES is that this matter should be left to be determined by the State Government in concurrence with the Election Commission. I do not think it would be possible for us right now or for the Centre to define for each particular State which person should be treated as a graduate although as a matter of fact in technical terms he is not a graduate. Shri A. P. Jain (Uttar Pradesh) : May I ask a question ? Will you recognize a person as a graduate under this law who is recognized by a State Public Service Commission or the Union Public Service Commission as a graduate ? Dr. Ambedkar : The point is this that under the Constitution all electoral matters are really the concern of the Election Commission and if the Election Commission seeks the advice of the Public Service Commission or any other body in order that it may come to the right conclusion there will be nothing to prevent it from doing that. But the final authority will be that of the State Government in concurrence with the Election Commission. I do not think that there is any other point that requires to be elucidated. These are the general provisions of the Bill and I hope that the House will find that they are the most suitable under the circumstances. Shri R. K. Chaudhuri (Assam) : What about the displaced persons who have come to India now ? Dr. Ambedkar : If you are raising the point I will explain it now. We have provided, as you will see in clause 20(6), that anybody who has come to India before the 25th July, 1949 will be entitled to be registered as a voter in the constituency in which he resided on that date or in any other constituency which he may specify to be his constituency. Shri Tyagi (Uttar Pradesh) : What about those who are coming now, in 1950 ? Dr. Ambedkar : That we cannot do, because under our Constitution a voter is required to be a citizen, and our citizenship clause defines citizenship as on the commencement. Unless we have a new citizenship law to regulate the position

136 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES those who have come after that date I am afraid they will have to go without the franchise. There is no help. * Shri M. A. Ayyangar : …… What I suggest, therefore, is that though formally a motion for reference to Select Committee has not been moved, we may sit around a table and consider whatever amendments have been suggested on their merits and incorporate them if necessary. We may adjourn and continue the proceedings tomorrow. The Minister of Law (Dr. Ambedkar) : May I explain a few things, Sir ? May I intervene in the debate to deal with this point about the Select Committee ? Mr. Speaker : Yes. I am not in touch with what happened during my absence from the Chair, but I have got a sufficiently fair idea of it from what the Hon. Deputy Speaker has said and from the reception of what he said just now. So, one could appreciate the demand for a Select Committee which means only an earnest and a pressing request for a quiet consideration of all the various provisions. That is what it really comes to. Dr. Ambedkar : There is no motion for a Select Committee. ** Shri Santhanam : The Select Committee may consist of a fairly large number thirty or forty, of those people who are very keenly interested and who want to press certain amendments. Tomorrow we can discuss the Select Committee proposals. Mr. Speaker : Whether it is a formal, technical, Select Committee or an informal meeting of thirty, forty or fifty Members who want to have their full say in the matter, all that I am keen about is that, everybody should as far as possible be given an opportunity to express his own views and the difficulties he might be feeling. If that is done I think * P.D. Vol. 4, Part II, 19th April 1950, p. 3051. ** Ibid, pp. 3052-54.

137PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES our object wil be served. I think we may adjourn just now and meet tomorrow at about 2-30. Dr. Ambedkar : Sir, I think it is desirable that I should state to the House exactly what a Select Committee will be able to do and what it will not be able to do. I think it will be wrong on my part to agree to any such motion leaving the House in darkness as to what is possible to be done by a Select Committee and what is not possible. I think my remarks might also enable the House to decide whether in view of the points that may remain open for discussion it is desirable to have a Select Committee. The first thing I am quite certain about is that the Select Committee will not be able to alter the provisions regarding qualifying period and qualifying date. I am quite certain in my mind that however desirable it may be, it would not be possible to do so, for the simple reason that we had taken a decision in the Constituent Assembly, as every Member of this House will remember, that the elections will take place at a certain time, and under that Resolution directions were issued to various States to prepare their electoral rolls. Most Members of the House must have noticed a statement which was recently published in the Statesman or the Hindustan Times stating the progress which the various States have made in the matter of the preparation of the electoral rolls. Now, those electoral rolls prepared by the various States were made on the basis of the qualifying period and the qualifying date. Obviously, unless the House comes to the conclusion that the labours which have been devoted by the various States to the preparation of the electoral roll ought to be thrown overboard (Shri Sondhi : Who says that?) and that we should in this Bill fix a qualifying date and a qualifying period which would be much nearer the preparation of the electoral roll than the existing ones have been, it seems to me absolutley clear that it would not be possible for the Select Committee or for me to accept a new qualifying date and a new qualifying period. Shri Sondhi : Can we not have supplementary lists ?

138 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Dr. Ambedkar : This question was put to me in the morning. I was asked as to what would happen to those who come of age, that is to say, who become twenty one, after the present qualifying date. Shri Sondhi : What about those who have been left out ? Dr. Ambedkar : I am conscious of all that I have been saying. Please let me go on. I had the matter examined by the Election Commissioner and my Ministry. The question is as to how much labour would be involved in the preparation of the supplementary electoral roll which would contain the names of persons who have come of age after the qualifying date that we have fixed. I am told that the number would be quite enormous. It would involve new work. We would have to have new machinery in addition to the one that would be necessary to revise the rolls that have already been prepared. This additional burden would certainly have the effect of postponing the target dates for certain stages that we have fixed. Therefore, unless this House is prepared to accept the proposition that there need be no cancellation on the date mentioned by the Prime Minister, it would not be possible to undertake this piece of work. I want to make that point quite clear. Unless the Select Committee is prepared to take the responsibility of recommending to Government that the work that has already been done be thrown overboard and be deemed to be of no value and that additional work be taken up notwithstanding the cost and the impossibility of providing additional material, my submission to the House is that the Select Committee cannot alter these provisions. What are the other provisions in this Bill? The other provisions are only two. They are urgent matters and I have not seen any hon. Member making any kind of reference to them. One clause which is important and about which I myself feel that the Bill might do something more is with regard to delimitation of constituencies. Except one hon. Member, nobody had realized ……..