PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1071
Mr. Deputy Speaker: I will pass on to another question. It is usual to refer to books and officers before coming to the House.
Shri A. C. Guha : We have been issued a circular that we should not go and see the officers. How can the Hon. Minister ask us to go to an officer and get the information ? It is the function of the Minister to supply the information.
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*TRIBAL CHRISTIANS AND GENERAL ELECTIONS
770. Shri S. C. Samanta: Will the Minister of Law be pleased to state :
( a ) whether tribal Christians (Adibasis) will be debarred from contesting the coming general elections from Scheduled tribes constituencies as Scheduled tribes candidates; and
( b ) if there be no bar, whether their elections will be questioned in and taken up as election disputes by the Election Tribunals ?
The Minister of Law (Dr. Ambedkar): ( a ) The hon. Member is in effect asking me for an interpretation of the relevant legal provisions contained in the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. A candidate for a seat reserved for the scheduled tribes in any State must be a member of a Scheduled tribes as listed in the Scheduled Tribes Order of the President. I cannot say whether the persons referred to in the question as “tribal Christians” are members of any scheduled tribe or not.
As regards part ( b ) of the question the attention of the hon. Member is invited to section 100 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which contains the grounds on which an election may be called in question. In particular, he may see sub-section (2), clause ( c ).
*P. D., Vol. 9, Part I, 4th September 1951, p. 972.