Vol. 15 · pages 261–265

244 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Dr. Ambedkar : That is a matter which you may discuss but that is how the Bill proceeds upon. There will therefore be some two-member constituencies. The other constituencies will be single-member constituencies. In the two-member constituencies the voting will be by distributive vote. Now I come to the Election Tribunal. Pandit Maitra : May I know whether in no case there will be three-member constituencies? Dr. Ambedkar : I am going to say at the end that these are not matters which can be taken as concluded. With regard to the Election Tribunal the position is this. There are of course a variety of ways in which an election tribunal could be constituted. Either you can constitute an election tribunal whose authority will be final, without any right of appeal, or you can have a tribunal whose decision will be subject to an appeal. As I said, on this there cannot be any dogma. One has to decide in the light of public opinion. But the Bill proceeds upon the assumption that there should be some sort of a right of appeal to the High Court. It is also assumed that the public has a greater confidence in the official machinery for the disposal of election disputes. Nonofficials, it is said, may have a bias which may prejudice the ultimate judgment in the case of an election dispute. Consequently what the Bill proposes to do is to have a two-member tribunal. The Chairman will be the District Judge and the other member will be a judicial officer. He may not be a District Judge. He may be some other judicial officer, but an official. The point is this that it is difficult to imagine at this stage what would be the number of election petitions. In view of the fact that the people of this country are so enamoured of politics so far as I see—having almost a passion for politics—I surmise that there might be a very large number of election petitions. If that happens and if you wish that the machinery to decide appeals should be official, the number of District Judges that may be available today would be found to be considerably insufficient to cope with the task. It is therefore that the second Member is described as a Judicial Officer. He may not be of the rank of the District Judge. In addition to that, it has been provided that the High Courts in the different provinces may prepare a list of

245PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES advocates, who in the opinion of the High Court, may be deemed to be sufficiently qualified and reliable to be employed as Members of this Tribunal. That is again on the supposition that the petitions may be so large that even the Judicial Members may not suffice. ( Interruption.) I think it is good that we should give some employment to advocates because notwithstanding the many remarks that I have been hearing I am firm enough to say civilization cannot exist without advocates. Law is the very foundation of civilization. As I said, the Bill provides that in the case of difference of opinion in the Tribunal a reference may be made to the High Court. Another, I think, very important feature of the Bill is this. I am not very much versed in the law relating to election petitions; I have not dealt with them on a very large scale. With what little experience I have, I have come to the conclusion that the law is in the most indefinite state that one can find. You can never definitely say what are the manners in which an election petition may be disposed of. You can never be certain on what grounds the election as a whole may be declared to be void. You can never be certain what are the grounds on which the election of a particular candidate may be declared. You are never certain under the existing law what are the cases in which the Courts may entertain what is called a plea of recrimination. I have therefore devoted considerable time and attention to the clarification of this position and I would invite the attention of hon. Members to clauses 93, 95 and 96 in which they will find that the position is made as clear as one can possibly do, and I hope that this will be a great advantage both to-the Tribunal as well as to the contesting candidates themselves. Then, I come to the law of corrupt and illegal practices. Here again, the law has been scattered in various places. I endeavoured to bring all the provisions relating to corrupt practices and illegal practices under this one Bill and you will find them codified from sections 122 onwards. Our law in a sense was defective so far as corrupt intention was concerned. The law has not made it clear that in the case of a corrupt practice what was essential was not a practice which is declared to be corrupt but the corrupt intention. With

246 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES regard to the illegal practice, there is no question of intention at all; the practice is declared to be bad, but with regard to the corrupt practice in order to give a finding of guilty, it is necessary to have a finding that the intention was corrupt. You might call your friend to a dinner or lunch during the period when your election is going on. Your opponent may say that you have corrupted him. I do not know whether such a plea could be sustained but under the existing law this proviso was not there and I have tried to square up the thing, because I find that is also the provision in the English law that in a corrupt practice there must be a corrupt intention. I know that the House is more interested in finding out what provisions are made in this Bill for a free and fair election. That, I think, is the desire of everybody and I therefore will now give to the House the provisions which relate and which are intended to bring about a free and fair election. (1) All election meetings on the election day and the day preceding such a day have been banned. We have thought that it would be desirable to have two peaceful nights to the voters as well as to the candidates before they go to the polling-booths. (2) Penalty has been provided for disturbance at election meetings, which I think is very desirable. (3) Officers performing any duty in connection with an election and police officers have been prohibited from acting for candidates or to influence voters. That you will find in clause 124. (4) Canvassing in and near polling stations has been prohibited. (5) Penalty has been provided for disorderly conduct in or near polling stations such as the use of a mega-phone or loud speaker or shouting in or near the polling station. (6) This is an important thing. The hiring or procuring of conveyances for bringing voters to or from the polling station has been made punishable. (7) Breaches of official duty in connection with the elections have been made punishable.

247PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (8) Removal of ballot papers from the polling station has also been made an offence. (9) Personation has been made a cognizable offence throughout India, and as you will see, there are other provisions of the Bill. There is a provision which says that every voter shall have to give his thumb impression in an indelible ink. I hope the ink will be indelible so that there will be no case of a second vote in the name of another person. We have got an enormous electorate and it would be quite difficult to find out that there is no impersonation. The only method of safeguarding it is to have some kind of mark by which when a voter comes to give a vote, it will be possible for a polling station to ascertain that he has already not voted. These are the general provisions which are contained in this Bill. Sir, I quite see that the time at the disposal of the House is very short, having regard to the length of the Bill, but I think the House can take comfort in the fact that we have had a very large Select Committee. I do not think that any Bill has had such a big Select Committee. An Hon. Member : Except the Hindu Code. Dr. Ambedkar : It was also a very small Select Committee, if I remember aright but here there are about 31 Members. An Hon. Member : Adult franchise? Dr. Ambedkar : I have given almost adult franchise. Secondly, as I said, this does not involve any question of policy. These are mere questions of methods of bringing about a fair deal in the election and consequently, I do not propose when the Select Committee meets to raise any kind of objection to any suggestion that might be made. It will be an open forum. I should also like to say that if those Members who have not had the luck to be included in the Select Committee also care to send any suggestions either personally to me. or to the Select Committee, I shall place them before the Select Committee and see that they are given due consideration. Sir, I move.

248 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES *Prof. Ranga : …….. I feel, Sir, that the Member should be given the opportunity to say which seat I wants to keep and even if he fails to declare, the result of that election which was declared first, that seat should be treated to be one for which he was elected. Dr. Ambedkar : It is there, he has only to resign within the prescribed period. *P.D. ,Vol. 7, Part II, 22nd December 1950, p. 2295.