Part 21 (1/2)

The general proposals for the franchise are based upon the principle of residence and the possession of certain property qualifications. In addition the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of all retired and pensioned officers of the Indian Army, whether of commissioned or non-commissioned rank, is recommended. This step was universally and strongly recommended in the Punjab, and it is to extend to all provinces. The property qualification is adapted to local conditions and is guided by the principle that the franchise should be as broad as possible, consistently with the avoidance of any such inordinate extension as might lead to a breakdown of the machinery of election through weight of numbers. The large proportion of illiterate voters, in the absence of a literary test, may cause difficulty, but it has already been faced successfully in munic.i.p.al elections in India by the use of coloured ballot-boxes and other like devices.

No rigid uniformity of property qualification has been sought, but the committee have proposed the same qualification for all communities within the same area. A substantially higher proportion of the urban than of the rural population will be enfranchised. At present the total number of electors for the provincial councils is 33,007, and of these no fewer than 17,448 are Mohammedans, since that community enjoys direct representation on an individual basis. The number of voters will be raised under the scheme to 5,179,000, being 2.34 per cent of the total population in the eight provinces, which is nearly 220,000,000.

The long established administrative unit of the ”district” is made the territorial area for const.i.tuencies but the relatively few cities with large populations are to be separately represented. Occasionally towns are grouped into separate urban const.i.tuencies. Single-member const.i.tuencies are the general rule, but lat.i.tude is left to the local Governments. Plural voting is to be forbidden, but this does not apply to electors in const.i.tuencies formed for the representation of special interests.

SPECIAL COMMUNITIES

In conformity with the recognition of the Joint Report that separate Mohammedan representation cannot be abandoned, the scheme provides for Mohammedan const.i.tuencies. The compact of the joint session of the National Congress and the Moslem League at Lucknow in December, 1916, is accepted as a guide in allocating the proportion of Mohammedan seats. In the Punjab this facility is to be extended to the Sikhs. Beyond this the framers of the Joint Report did not propose to go; but Lord Southborough's Committee recommend separate electorates, where the numbers justify that course, for Indian Christians, Europeans, and the domiciled ”Anglo-Indians”--_i.e._, country-born Europeans and Eurasians.

It is observed that candidates belonging to these communities would have no chance of being elected by general const.i.tuencies. The hope is expressed that it will be possible ”at no very distant date to merge all communities into one general electorate.”

Other claims for separate electorates are not conceded. Regret is expressed that the organized non-Brahmans of the Madras Presidency refuse to appear before the Committee. It is pointed out that there the non-Brahmans (omitting the depressed or ”untouchable” cla.s.ses) outnumber the Brahmans by about 22 to one; and on the basis of enfranchis.e.m.e.nt taken in Madras the non-Brahmans would be in the proportion of four to one. It is held to be unreasonable to adopt the proposed expedient for a community which has an overwhelming electoral strength.

The alternative of reserving a considerable number of seats for non-Brahmans in plural member const.i.tuencies did not commend itself to a section of the non-Brahmans, though evidence went to show that such a proposal might be accepted by the Brahmans ”if it were the price of an enduring peace.” It is suggested that his Majesty's Government might afford the parties to the controversy an opportunity, before the electoral machinery for the Presidency is completed, of agreeing upon some solution--_e.g._, the provision of plural member const.i.tuencies and of a certain proportion of guaranteed non-Brahman seats.

The separate representation of zamindars and landholders granted under the Morley-Minto scheme is extended and provision made for university seats. The election by accredited bodies of representatives of commerce and industry is also continued and amplified. There is to be nomination for the representation of the ”depressed cla.s.ses,” for in no case was it found possible to provide an electorate on any satisfactory system of franchise. Labour is to be represented by nomination where the industrial conditions seem likely to give rise to labour problems. The majority of the Committee are of opinion that dismissal from Government service should const.i.tute a bar to candidature if it has taken place in circ.u.mstances which, in the opinion of the Governor in Council, involve moral turpitude; but Lord Southborough, Mr. S. N. Bannerjea, and Mr.

Sastri dissent, considering it improper to limit the choice of the electorate by a disqualification based on the decision of an executive authority.

The size of the Provincial Legislatures will vary from 53 in a.s.sam to 125 in Bengal. The eight Councils will comprise 796 members, made up as follows:--

Elected by general const.i.tuencies, 308.

By communities, 185.

By landholders, 35.

By universities, 8.

By commercial, industrial, and planting interests, 45.

The nominated representatives will number 47, and the officials, 128.

THE ”ALL-INDIA” BODY

For the Indian Legislative a.s.sembly, the Committee propose 80 elected members, instead of the 68 suggested in the Joint Report. Fourteen representatives appointed by nomination and 26 officials (including seven _ex-officio_ members) will bring up the total, exclusive of the Governor-General, to 120, as compared with 68 at present. A statement of the manifold difficulties in the way of direct election for this All-India body leads to the conclusion that there must be indirect election for all general and communal seats by the members of the Provincial Legislatures. ”We trust that, in progress of time, a growing sense of political organization will enable indirect election to be superseded by some direct method.”

A scheme for the creation of the ”Council of State” on the lines of the Joint Report is set forth, on the basis of election thereto by non-official members of the Provincial Councils. There would be 24 elected and 32 _ex-officio_ or nominated members, exclusive of the Governor-General. The electors should be left free to choose any person qualified to be a member of a Provincial Legislature.

THE DIVISION OF FUNCTIONS