THE CABINET MISSION 501
possible. The most satisfactory method obviously would be by election based on adult franchise, but any attempt to introduce such a step now would lead to a wholly unacceptable delay in the formation of the new constitution. The only practicable course was to utilise the recently elected Provincial Legislative Assemblies as electing bodies. There were, however, two factors in their composition which made it difficult. First, the numerical strengths of Provincial Legislative Assemblies did not bear the same proporation to the total population in each Province. Secondly, owing to the weightage given to minorities by the Communal Award, the strengths of the several communities in each Provincial Legislative Assembly were not in proportion to their numbers in the Province. After a most careful consideration of the various methods by which these points might be corrected, the fairest and most practicable plan would be (a) to allot to each Province a total number of Castes proportional to its population, roughly in the ratio of one to a million, as the nearest substitute for representation by adult suffrage ; (b) to divide this Provincial allocation of seats between the main communities in each Province in proportion to their population ; (c) to provide that the representatives allocated to each community in a Province should be elected by members of that community in its Legislative Assembly. For these purposes it was sufficient to recognise only three main communities in India—General, Muslim and Sikh, the General community including all persons who were not Muslims and Sikhs. As smaller minorities would upon a population basis, have little or no representation, since they would lose the weightage assuring them seats in Provincial Legislatures, some arrangements, were suggested to give them a full representation upon all matters of special interest to minorities.
The Mission, therefore, proposed that there should be elected
by each Provincial Legislative Assembly the following numbers of