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464 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
APPENDIX XX
POONA PACT*
(1) There shall be seats reserved for the Depressed Classes out of the general electorate seats in the Provincial Legislatures as follows:–
Madras 30: Bombay with Sind 15; Punjab 8; Bihar and Orissa 18; Central Provinces 20 ; Assam 7; Bengal 30; United Provinces 20 ; Total 148.
These figures are based on the total strength of the Provincial Councils, announced in the Prime Minister’s decision.
(2) Election to these seats shall be by joint electorates subject, however, to the following procedure:
All the members of the Depressed Classes registered in the general electoral roll in a constituency will form an electoral college, which will elect a panel of four candidates belonging to the Depressed Classes for each of such reserved seats, by the method of the single vote; the four persons getting the highest number of votes in such primary election, shall be candidates for election by the general electorate.
(3) Representation of the Depressed Classes in the Central Legislature shall likewise be on the principle of joint electorates and reserved seats by the method of primary election in the manner provided for in Clause two above, for their representation in the Provincial Legislatures.
(4) In the Central Legislature, eighteen per cent. of the seats allotted to the general electorate for British India in the said Legislature shall be reserved for the Depressed Classes.
(5) The system of primary election to a panel of candidates for election to the Central and Provincial Legislatures, as hereinbefore mentioned, shall come to an end after the first ten years, unless terminated sooner by mutual agreement under the provision of Clause six below.
(6) The system of representation of the Depressed Classes by reserved seats in the Provincial and Central Legislatures as
*Signed on 25th September 1932.