222 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
*** Mr. Speaker :** Amendment of Shri Deshbandhu Gupta moved :
In the amendment by Dr. Ambedkar, in the proposed new clause
10B, Before the existing first Proviso to sub-section (1) of the proposed new section 27A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, insert the following new Proviso :
“ Provided that for the purpose of filling the seat allotted to the State of Delhi, the elected members of all local bodies such as Municipal Committees, District Board and notified area committees and members elected to the Chief Commissioner’s Advisory Council and the House of People shall form the electoral college.”
Dr. Ambedkar : With regard to the amendment moved by my hon. Friend, Shri Deshbandhu Gupta, there are one or two points to which I would like to make a reference. In a way this amendment read with the other provisions which the House has now passed for the purpose of making provision for elected representatives of Part C States to the Upper Chamber ” appears to be somewhat incongruous. There we are creating an electoral college elected by adult suffrage. Here we are retaining the original scheme contained in the Bill, namely, that the representation should be by indirect means through local authorities, but I do not think that is a very grave objection to the acceptance of this proposal in view of the fact that my hon. Friend, Shri Deshbandhu Gupta, told us this morning that all these bodies are in a very short period going to be democratized and are likely to be elected by audit suffrage. In view of that, it is a mere matter of fancy, it seems to me, whether you would take the municipality or the local board as a basis for election or whether you would go down and dilute it further and make it as the basis for election. Therefore fundamentally I have no objection to his proposal.
There are two other points to which I would like to make a reference. In view of the fact that he is making local authorities as instruments for election, it does appear that there are certain local authorities in the Delhi province where the members are not elected but are nominated. Take, for instance, the New Delhi Municipality. I understand that there
- P. D., Vol. 7, Part II, 21st December 1950, pp. 2231-33.