420 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
If you vote for the Scheduled Castes Federation, then I assure you that our candidates will be successful in the coming general elections. There is no doubt about it, the only thing is that you should vote for our true representatives. On the day of voting all men and women should leave their business and go to polls.
The reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes is for
10 years only. I wanted that this reservation should remain for such time as Untouchability is there, but the Congress leader, late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel opposed me. So the other persons who were there in the Committee also had to support Sardar because they belonged to his party. Therefore, we should try to send our true representatives to the Assemblies, so that they may safeguard our right and also try to secure this reservation after 10 years. The people who are trying to secure tickets from other parties forget that after 10 years, they will be nowhere. No other party will come to them to say that they would stand on their tickets. Today, other parties are only anxious to secure our votes and capture our seats and not that they are sympathising with us.
When the time came for the award of different symbols to different parties, our party, the Scheduled Castes Federation was also considered as an All India Party. Other parties gave their symbols as Oxen, Horses, Donkies etc., but for your convenience I made our symbol, the “ Elephant” so that people may not find difficulty in recognising our party candidates. Elephant can be easily distinguished from other animals.
This time the cumulative voting system has been replace with distributive system. Where there are reserved seats, the voters of that constituency can cast two votes, one to a candidate standing on reserved seat and the other to a candidate who is standing on general seat. We cannot cast two votes to one man. So we will have to make alliance with some party, whose voters will cast their second vote in our favour. The party with whom we enter into agreement will be declared in a few days and you must vote for that party and in return that party will support our candidates. In this way, our candidates will be successful. Our voting strength is not so strong and moreover there are joint electorate which makes our position more awkward. So we will have to make alliance with one party or the other.