PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 535
*Shri Gautam: ......Then I come to the last point that I want to raise and that is about illegal practices. Dr. Ambedkar has laboured very much to explain one point to us which as the interruptions of the House showed was not clear to many of us and that was with regard to the return of election expenses......
Dr. Ambedkar: Not clear.
Shri Gautam: The clause reads as follows:
“The following shall be deemed to be illegal practices for the purposes of this Act:—
(1) The incurring or authorisation by any person other than a candidate or his agent of expenses on account of holding any public meeting, or upon any advertisement, circular or publication.”
Mark the words, it is not publication only. If a man distributes the handbills of a candidate, it is circulation “or in any other way whatsoever” and this opens the door. I do not know to what extent and to what limit. The clause further reads:
“or in any other way whatsoever, for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of the candidate, unless he is authorised in writing so to do by the candidate.”
If I were a candidate, I think it will be impossible for me......
An hon. Member: You are making an announcement.
** Babu Ramnarayan Singh (Bihar) ( English translation of the Hindi speech ) : I thank you, Sir......
Dr. Ambedkar: Speak in English.
Babu Ramnarayan: No. Sir, we are now a free nation. Why should we remind ourselves of our slavery by speaking in English ? I will therefore express myself in Hindi.
I very much appreciated one of the observations made by Hon. Dr. Ambedkar. It was that the object of the laws that
*P. D., Vol. 11, Part II, 9th May 1951, p. 8375.
**Ibid., p. 8413.