MEMORANDUM . . . . . . . CABINET MISSION 175
(iv) The Poona Pact, which took the place of the Communal Award, (1) has saddled the Scheduled Castes with two elections : (a) Primary and (b) Final, the former through Separate Electorates and the latter through Joint Electorates, and (2) has placed the small number of Scheduled Caste voters in joint constituencies at the mercy of a vast number of Caste Hindu voters.
(v) The results of the final elections, as compared with those of the primary elections which are set out in Appendix II, have conclusively proved that the System of Joint Electorates and reserved seats has made a mockery of the right given to the Scheduled Castes to send their true representatives to the Legislature and is a fraud upon the Scheduled Castes.
8. If the Scheduled Castes have not been able to send a single candidate to the Provincial Legislatures, who is elected by the votes of the Scheduled Castes and who can therefore be said to be the true representative of the Scheduled Castes, it is because the joint electorates in which seats have been reserved for the Scheduled Castes have, by reason of the enormous disparity in the voting strength of the Scheduled Castes and the Caste Hindus, become rotten boroughs from the point of view of the Scheduled Castes and pocket boroughs from the point of view of Caste Hindus, who have been able to put up Scheduled Caste candidates, wishing to be their tools and get them elected in the Joint Electorates exclusively with Caste Hindu votes.
9. Having regard to the bitter experience of the System of Joint Electorates which the Scheduled Castes have had in the past, the Working Committee desires to convey to the Mission the deep seated conviction of the Scheduled Castes that the need of restoring Separate Electorates has become paramount, as they believe and rightly that Separate Electorates form the only guarantee against the nullification by the Caste Hindus of their constitutional safeguards and that without Separate Electorates no amount of political safeguards will be of any avail to the Scheduled Castes.