922 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
majority in each House. That is the first condition Secondly it shall be submitted to the electors to obtain their decision upon the amending law passed by the two Houses by absolute majority. If the two Houses are not unanimous in the proposed amendment then the Governor-General is empowered to put the last proposed law for amendment to the electors for their decision. And then these are the conditions. If in a majority of the States a majority of the electors voting in favour of the proposed law and if a majority of all electors voting also approve of the proposed law, then and then only the proposed law shall become part of the Costitution on receiving the assent of the King. The conditions are that in the first place both Houses must pass the proposed law by absolute majority, and if they do not agree, or are not unanimous, then the power is given to the Governor-General to refer the matter to the electors. Even in the first case the matter must be referred to the electors and even then it is not merely by the majority of the electors voting in favour of the Bill but majority of the States, a majority of electors and a majority of all the electors voting must approve the Bill before the Constitution could be amended.
Now let us take the Constitution of the United States. In the Constitution of the united States, article 5 which deals with the amendment of the Constitution provides thus : “When two-thirds of both houses propose an amendment, then and then alone further action could be taken.” The first condition is that two-thirds of both houses must pass the amending Bill or two-thirds of the States may call their conventions, that is to say, a meeting of the electors who may propose constitutional amendments as suggested by the State Government. Such amendments then will become law provided it is ratified by three-fourths of the States or by the Conventions in threefourths of the States. I have taken these two Constitutions merely for the purpose of illustration. Many other provisions would be found in other constitutions.
Now what is the basic principle underlying this provision relating to the amendment of the Constitution ? It seems to me that a student who scrutinises these two articles relating to the amendment of the Constitution in Australia and