z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-05.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 344
344 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
- What is however the remedy for preventing oligarchy ? The only remedy that I can think of is the grant of adult suffrage. It is pertinent to remark that the members of the Ceylon Commission of 1928 who like the authors of the Joint Report were conscious that “the grant of a responsible government to an electorate of these small dimensions would be tantamount to placing an oligarchy in power without any guarantee that the interests of the remainder of the people would be consulted by those in authority” and who felt it “necessary to observe that His Majesty’s Government is the trustee not merely of the wealthier and more highly educated elements in Ceylon but quite as much of the peasant and the coolie, and of all those poorer classes which form the bulk of the population” and who held that “to hand over the interests of the latter to the unfettered control of the former would be a betrayal of its trust,” came “to the conclusion that literacy should not remain as one of the qualifications for voters at election of State Council.” They said “the development of responsible government requires, in our opinion, an increasing opportunity to the rank and file of the people to influence the Government and the franchise cannot be fairly or wisely confined to the educated classes.” If adult franchise can be prescribed for Ceylon the question that naturally arises is why should it not be prescribed for India ? Similarity in the political, social, economic, and educational conditions of the two countries is so striking that to treat them differently in the matter of franchise is to create a distinction when there is no real difference to justify the same. Analogy apart and considering the case purely on merits it is beyond doubt that of the two if any one of them is more fitted to be trusted with the exercise of adult it is the people of India and more so the people of the Bombay Presidency wherein the system of adult suffrage is already in vogue in the village panchayats.
CHAPTER 2
ELECTORATES
- The existing Legislative Council is composed of 114 members, of whom
26 are nominated and 86 are elected. The nominated members fall into two groups ( a ) officials to represent the reserved half of the Government and ( b ) the non-officials to represent (1) the Depressed Classes, (2) Labouring Classes, (3) Anglo-Indians, (4) Indian Christians and (5) the Cotton Trade. Of the elected members (1) some are elected by class-electorates created to represent the interests of the landholders, commerce and industry,
(2) some by reserved electorates for Maratha and allied castes and the rest,
(3) by communal electorates which are instituted for the Muhammadans and the Europeans. The question is whether this electoral structure should be preserved without alteration. Before any conclusion can be arrived at, it is necessary to evaluate it, in the light of considerations both theoretical as well as practical.