PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 481
are and what their population is. As I said, if this matter was covered by article 341, then it would have been quite unnecessary to come to this House for making provision for representation of scheduled castes in Part C States. Because, then the President would have the same power as he has with regard to the scheduled castes in Part A and Part B states to determine the Scheduled Castes in Part C States and their population so that the Election Commissioner could easily proceed to delimit the constituencies. Therefore, my submission is that there is no substance in this argument that this Bill from a constitutional point of view is unnecessary.
My hon. Friend Mr. Deshpande has challenged me on another ground that this matter is already covered in the former Act called the Representation of the People Act, 1950. He has referred to section 6 of that Act where it is stated that the President may determine among other things, “the number of seats, if any reserved for the scheduled castes or for the scheduled tribes in each constituency ”. Here again, he seems to be suffering from one fallacy. This Act has reference to the order issued by the President with regard to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in Part A and Part B States. This section 6 could have no reference to or relevance to a case where the scheduled castes or the scheduled tribes have not been notified by the President. It is only when the President can notify that this section can be attracted. What we are doing now is to enact a list of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes in the various Part C States where we propose to reserve seats for them. Therefore, my submission is that his argument too is based on a complete misunderstanding of the provisions of that particular Act.
There is, I find, no disagreement on the question that provision should be made for representation of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in Part C States. So far, so good. Two Members from Vindhya Pradesh have said that by taking two seats, one for the scheduled castes and one for the scheduled tribes, the general representation has been cut into too much. Prima facie, I am not prepared to accept that argument. That argument seems to be founded on the supposition that all the six seats were to ensure to the benefit