Vol. 15 · pages 676–680

659PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES Dr. Ambedkar: Marginal headings will be corrected afterwards. Mr. Speaker: I am not putting the marginal headings at all to the House. hon. Members will have noticed that I am dropping out the marginal headings. That is the business of the draftsmen. It is not part of the statute. The question is: In clause 144, omit the words “or a polling agent”. The motion was adopted. Mr. Speaker: The question is: “That clause 144, as amended, stand part of the Bill” The motion was adopted. Clause 144, as amended was added to the Bill. Clause 145 was added to the Bill Clause 146. —(Casual vacancies in Council of States ) Amendment made: In clause 146, for the words “the members of the Legislative Assembly or electoral college concerned” occurring in line 5, substitute the following: “the elected members of the Legislative Assembly or the members of the electoral college concerned.” — [Dr. Ambedkar] Mr. Speaker: The question is : “That clause 146, as amended stand part of the Bill.” The motion was adopted. Clause 146, as amended, was added to the Bill. Clauses 147, 148 and 149 were added to the Bill. Clause 150.—(Vacancies in State Legislative Councils ) Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: An amendment was agreed that the election shall be held within four months. But, that is not here on the paper. Therefore, I would beg of you to hold over this clause. Dr. Ambedkar: It was not accepted, I believe. My record does not show that. Let the amendment be moved, whatever it is.

660 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Sardar Sochet Singh (P.E.P.S.U.): It was agreed. Mr. Speaker: Let us hold it over. Clause 151.—(List of members to be maintained ). Amendment made: For sub- clause (1) of clause 151, substitute the following: “(1) The Returning Officer for an election by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of a State to fill a seat or for an election by the members of the Legislative Assembly of a State to fill a seat or seats in the Legislative Council of the State shall for the purposes of such election maintain in his office in the prescribed manner and form a list of elected members or a list of members, as the case may be of that Legislative Assembly.” —[Dr. Ambedkar] Mr. Speaker: The question is: “That clause 151 as amended, stand part of the Bill.” The motion was adopted. Clause 151, as amended, was added to the Bill. Clause 152 to 156 were added to the Bill. 10-00 A.M. Clause 157.—(Return or forfeiture of deposits ) Amendment made: In sub-clause (1) of clause 157, after the words “by whom” occurring in line 1, insert the words “or on whose behalf. —[Dr. Ambedkar] Further amendment made: In sub-clause (1) of clause 157, for all the words beginning with he words “the deposit shall be returned” to the end, substitute the following: “the deposit shall be returned to the person by whom it was made and, if any candidate dies before the commencement of the poll, any such deposit, if made by him, shall be returned to his legal representative or, if not made by the candidate, shall be returned to the person by whom it was made.” —[Dr. Ambedkar]

661PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES Further amendment made: In sub-clause (2) of clause 157, after the words “by whom” occurring in line 1, insert the words “or on whose behalf.” —[Dr. Ambedkar] Further amendment made: In sub-clause (4) of clause 157, after the words “deposit made by” occurring in line 1, insert the words “or on behalf of ”. —[Dr. Ambedkar] Further amendment made: In sub-clause (4) of clause 157, for the words “be returned to him” occurring in line 3, substitute the following: “be returned to such candidate or to the person who has made the deposit on his behalf, as the case may be.” —[Dr. Ambedkar] Further amendment made: In the first Proviso to sub-clause (4) of clause 157, after the words “deposits made by him” occuring in line 3, insert the words “or on his behalf ”. —[Dr. Ambedkar] Further amendment made: In the second Proviso to sub-clause (4) of clause 157, after the words “deposits made by him” occuring in line 4, insert the words “or on his behalf.” —[Dr. Ambedkar] Shri Bhatt: There is an amendment No. 212. Dr. Ambedkar: I will move that separately. Further amendment made: In sub-clause (2) of clause 157, for the word “one-eighth” in the two places where it occurs ; substitute the word “one-sixth”. —[Dr. Ambedkar] Mr. Speaker: The question is : “That clause 157, as amended, be added to the Bill.” The motion was adopted. Clause 157, as amended was added to the Bill.

662 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Clause 158 was added to the Bill. New Clause 158A. Dr. Deshmukh (Madhya Pradesh): Sir, I have to move for the insertion of the following amendment. In England, they have not only a provision similar to the one. I am asking, but they have framed certain rules for regulating the granting of accommodation for this purpose and these have not led to any difficulty whatsoever. I therefore, urge that this amendment may be accepted. Dr. Ambedkar: I am afraid this will create a lot of difficulties and I am not prepared to accept this amendment. Mr. Deputy Speaker: Let me first of all ascertain from the hon. Member if it is necessary for me to place the amendment before the House. Dr. Deshmukh: No, but some hon. Members may desire to speak. Mr. Deputy Speaker: The hon. Member has moved his amendment and as I understand it, the procedure is if I place it before the House, the House gets seized of it. I asked for the reaction of the Law Minister and he said that he is not accepting the amendment. And the hon. Member has rightly said that it is not necessary for me to place it before the House. When I place it before the House, then every Member is entitled to talk on it; and at that stage the hon. Member who has moved it can withdraw it with the leave of the House. Dr. Deshmukh: In view of the fact that there are a lot of hon. Members of this House who are keen and who are impressed by the reasonings I have given, they may be allowed to speak on this amendment and then ........ Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: Sir, this will be a bad precedent. If it is not to be put to the House, it need not be discussed. Shri Kamath (Madhya Pradesh): The hon. Member moved the amendment and it should be discussed. When an amendment is moved, the House is seized of it.

663PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES Mr. Deputy Speaker: I take it as a point of order. My ruling is this that until the moment....... Shri Syamnandan Sahaya (Bihar): Parliamentary system of Government is by discussion and persuasion. The hon. Dr. Deshmukh is not able to persuade the Hon. Law Minister. It is possible my friend Mr. Kamath may be able to persuade the law Minister by his arguments. So, why not give some chance for discussion ? Mr. Deputy Speaker : The point raised here is at what stage does the House get seized of a motion. It is not as if as soon as any hon. Member gives notice of an amendment, moves it, the House gets seized of it. The Speaker has to place it before the House and then only the House gets seized of it. But at that stage it is open to the hon. Member not to press it. I asked the Law Minister to give his reaction. He said briefly that he is not agreeable to it. If the hon. Member wanted me to put the Amendment to the House, I would have done so and then there could be some discussion, and the Hon. Law Minister would have convinced the House about his attitude, in reply. Then ultimatly it would be for the House to decide the matter. At that later time if the hon. Member who made the motion wanted to withdraw, the consent of the House would be necessary. It is quite possible that the House might have been convinced one way or the other and therefore it would be for the House to allow the hon. Member to withdraw or not. Here I asked the Hon. Law Minister and after hearing him the hon. Mover did not press the motion. Therefore, I did not put the motion to the House and it is not seized of it. I cannot therefore, put any motion to the House merely to satisfy a number of hon. Members for the purpose of talking on this matter. I am not going to allow any improper spending of the time of the House. So far as Mr. Sahaya’s point is concerned, it is open to any other Member if he was satisfied with the amendment, to have himself given notice of the amendment. I cannot allow any hon. Member to take advantage of any amendment in somebody else’s name. The time of the House is so precious that I cannot allow any discussions which are not germane to any issue before it.