462 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
will have some voice in the election of the President. The only method of giving the minorities a voice in the election of the President is, so to say, to have separate electorates and to provide that the President must not only have a majority but he must have a substantial number of votes from each minority. But that again, seems to me, to be a proposition which we cannot accept having regard to what we have laid down in the Constitution, namely, that there shall be no separate electorates. The only other method, therefore, that remained was to have a system of election in which the minorities will have some hand and some play, and that is undoubtedly the system of proportional representation, which has been laid down in the Constitution.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : There is to be transferability. How can there be proportional representation when there is only one man to be elected ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I really cannot go into this question in detail. To do so I will have to open a class and lecture on the subject ; but I cannot undertake that task at this stage. However, it is well-known and everybody knows how the system works.
Mr. Vice-President: These interruptions show that some Members are not aware of the true nature of proportional representations. You need not pay attention to these interruptions.
Maulana Hasrat Mohani: What are you going to do if there is only one candidate ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : If there is only one candidate, he will be elected unanimously (Laughter), and no question of majority or minority arises at all.
The other question asked by Mr. Tyagi was whether there was any procedure for eliminating candidates.
Shri Mahavir Tyagi : On a point of information, Sir.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : No. I cannot yield. I am answering your point. Your point was whether there was a process of elimination. The point before me is that I want that the election of the President or the General representation involves elimination. Otherwise it has no meaning. The only thing that we have done is that instead of having several proportional representations, we have provided one single proportional represenation, in which every candidate at the