16. Representation of the People Bill - Page 153

136 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

those who have come after that date I am afraid they will have to go without the franchise. There is no help.

The Minister of Law (Dr. Ambedkar) : May I explain a few things, Sir ? May I intervene in the debate to deal with this point about the Select Committee ?

Mr. Speaker : Yes. I am not in touch with what happened during my absence from the Chair, but I have got a sufficiently fair idea of it from what the Hon. Deputy Speaker has said and from the reception of what he said just now.

So, one could appreciate the demand for a Select Committee which means only an earnest and a pressing request for a quiet consideration of all the various provisions. That is what it really comes to.

Dr. Ambedkar : There is no motion for a Select Committee.

**** Shri Santhanam :** The Select Committee may consist of a fairly large number thirty or forty, of those people who are very keenly interested and who want to press certain amendments. Tomorrow we can discuss the Select Committee proposals.

Mr. Speaker : Whether it is a formal, technical, Select Committee or an informal meeting of thirty, forty or fifty Members who want to have their full say in the matter, all that I am keen about is that, everybody should as far as possible be given an opportunity to express his own views and the difficulties he might be feeling. If that is done I think

** Ibid, pp. 3052-54.