THE CABINET . . . . . . . . . UNTOUCHABLES 271
The argument is absurd for the following reasons :—
(i) Primary election is not obligatory. It becomes obligatory only when there are more than four candidates contesting one seat. It is not realized that anyone who stands for Primary election must also face the necessity of having to stand for Final election. The inability of the Untouchables to bear the expense of double election make it very difficult to induce members of the Untouchable communities to stand for Primary election. The fact that there have been Primary elections only for 43 seats cannot be made the basis for the inference that the Untouchables do not claim to be separate from the Congress.
(ii) It is the Congress who must be asked as to why it did not put up 4 candidates in every consituency in the Primary elections. For if the Congress claims to represent the Untouchables, it should have put up more than 4 candidates on Congress ticket in every constituency and brought about Primary elections in each of the 151 constituencies and ousted every other party from coming into the Final election. The Congress did not do this. On the other hand, even in the 43 Primary elections, the Congress put up only one candidate in each constituency on the off-chance of his coming within the first 4 and then getting him returned in the Final Election with the Hindu votes. This shows that the Congress knew that the Untouchables had no confidence in the Congress.
(iii) It is only in 1937 that the Untouchables for the first time got their right to vote. It is only after 1937 that the Untouchables started organizing themselves for conducting elections. From the mere fact that Scheduled Castes Federation was outmatched by the Congress in the elections, it is wrong to conclude that the Untouchables are with the Congress. The Cabinet Mission ought to have made allowance from the unequal strengh of the Congress and the Scheduled Castes Federation in fighting elections drawing any conclusions adverse to the Federation from the results of the elections.