Vol. 17, Part II · pages 251–255

228 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES They were distributed as follows :-Madras . . . . 10 Bombay . . . . 3 Bengal . . . . 12 United province . . . . 3 Central Provinces . . . . 5 Punjab . . . . 7 There were no Primary Elections in the Provinces of Bihar and Orissa. The results of the Primary Elections in the 40 constituencies are tabulated in the Appendix which accompanies this note. The results prove :— (I) That, out of 283 candidates the Congress put up only 46 candidates on its ticket (See Table I) and out of 168 successful candidates had only 38 to its credit ( See Table V)’. (II) The object of a Party in entering into a Primary Election is to drive out all rival parties from the Final Election by putting up at least four candidates on its party ticket. Whether a party can put up four candidates on its ticket depends upon how much confidence it has in the voters to vote for its party ticket. The Congress has not ventured to put up more than one candidate in each constituency. This shows that the Congress had no confidence that the Scheduled Caste voters would vote for the Congress ticket. If there is any party which has ventured to put up four candidates for each it has contested, it is the Scheduled Castes Federation. (See Table II, Parts I, V, Columns 3 and 4). (III) Measured in terms of votes cast in favour of the Congress it is proved beyond dispute that the Congress obtained only 28 per cent of the total votes polled in the Primary Election ( See Table IV). (IV) If there was not the temptation to get oneself elected in the final election with the help of the Hindu votes, the Independents would all be members of the Scheduled Castes Federation. On that assumption the Scheduled Castes Federation is the only party which represents the Scheduled Castes and the 72 per cent voting in favour of the Non-Congress Parties should be set out to its credit ( See Table IV).

229DOES THE . . . . . . OF INDIA ? The members of the Cabinet Mission argued that Dr. Ambedkar’s following was confined to the Scheduled Castes in the Bombay Presidency and the Central Provinces only. There is no foundation for this statement. The Scheduled Castes Federation is functioning in other Provinces as well and it has won notable electoral success as great as in Bombay and the Central Provinces. In making this statement the Mission has failed to take account of the single victory Dr. Ambedkar secured in the election to the Constituent Assembly. He stood as a candidate from the Bengal Provincial Legislature Assembly. He secured 7 first preference votes and topped the poll so far as the general seats were concerned beating even Mr. Sarat Chandra Bose, the Leader of the Congress party. If Dr. Ambedkar has no influence outside Bombay and Central Provinces how did he get elected from Bengal? It must be further remembered that there are 30 seats for the Scheduled Castes in the Bengal Provincial Assembly. Out of the 30 as many as 28 were elected on the Congress ticket. Of the two who belonged to his party one fell ill on the day of election. This means that 6 Scheduled Caste members elected on the Congress ticket broke the Congress Mandate and voted for Dr. Ambedkar. This shows that even these Scheduled Caste members who belong to the Congress regard him as the leader of the Scheduled Castes. This is complete disproof of the statement made by the Mission. The Congress has been so much encouraged by the surrender of the Mission that a letter addressed to the Mission the Congress has gone to the length of denying that the Scheduled Castes are a minority. This means that the Congress is not prepared to give the Scheduled Castes the same safeguards as they would to other minorities. The Mission has not repudiated this suggestion of the Congress. Herein lurks a great danger and it is necessary to pin down the Mission in the course of the debate and compel them to say if they do or do not regard the Scheduled Castes as a minority. The Cabinet Mission have said in their proposals that before sovereignty is transferred Parliament will have to satisfy itself that the safeguards for Minorities are adequate. The Mission has

230 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES nowhere defined the machinery for examining the safeguards. Whether there would be a Joint Committee of the two Houses of Parliament to examine the minority safeguards has not been made clear. The Mission has not even stated that His Majesty’s Government will exerecise its independent judgment in coming to its conclusion on the adequacy of the safeguards. It is necessary to have these matters defined because this provision was an afterthought with the Mission and did not form part of its original proposals which gives the impression that this was intended merely to act as a stop to the minorities. Analysis of the Results of Primary Elections Held in December, 1945 (Preliminary to the General Election in India Held in February 1946) for Choosing Candidates from the Scheduled Castes (Untouchables) for the Seats Reserved for the Scheduled Castes in the Provincial Legislatures of India

231DOES THE INDIAN . . . . . . OF INDIA ? Note.-The Tables in this Analysis are prepared from official figures. TABLE I Parties which contested the Primary Election for seats reserved for Scheduled Castes shown Province-wise Name of the party which put up Candidates to contest Primary Elections The Number of Candidates put up by each Party in— Total number of Candidates put up by the party in all the Provinces Madras Bombay Bengal United Provinces Central Provinces Punjab 1. Congress 10 3 13 11 5 4 46 2. Scheduled Castes Federation 35 6 8 9 12 none 70 3. Harijan League none none none 1 3 none 4 4. No-Party Candidates (Independents) 5 9 76 3 8 52 153 5. Hindu Maha Sabha none none 1 1 none none 2 6. Communists 6 none 1 none none none 7 7. Radical Democratic Party none none 1 none none none 1 Total ... 56 18 100 25 28 56 283

232 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES TABLE II Parties which contested the Primary Election for seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes shown constituency-wise PART I-MADRAS Constituency in which Primary Election was contested Total of Candidates who took part in the contest Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put up by each Congress Scheduled Castes Federation Communists No-Party Candidates (Independents) 1. Amlapuram 7 1 4 2 none 2. Coconada 5 1 4 none none 3. Bandar 5 1 1 3 none 4. Cuddappa 5 1 4 none none 5. Penukonda 5 1 4 none none 6. Tirnvannamali 6 1 5 none none 7. Tindivanam 6 1 5 none none 8. Mannergudi 5 1 none 1 3 9. Pollachi 7 1 4 none 2 10. Nammakal 5 1 4 none none Total 56 10 35 6 5 PART II--BOMBAY Constituency in which Primary Election was contested Total of Candidates who took part in the contest Parties which fought the election and the number of candidates put up by each Congress Scheduled Castes Federation No-Party Candidates (independents) Bombay City (North) 7 1 1 5 Bombay City 6 1 1 4 (Byculla& Parel) East Khandesh (East) 5 1 4 none Total 18 3 6 9