HL Deb 10 July 1935 vol 98 cc192-6

Representatives of British India.

The Council of State.

3. Of the one hundred and fifty-six seats in the Council of State to be filled by representatives of British India one hundred and fifty seats shall be allocated to Governors' Provinces, Chief Commissioners' Provinces and communities in the manner shown in the relevant Table of Seats appended to this Part of this Schedule, and six seats shall be filled by persons chosen by the Governor-General in his discretion.

4. To each Governor's Province, Chief Commissioner's Province and community specified in the first column of the Table there shall be allotted the number of seats specified in the second column opposite to that Province or community.

5. Subject to the provisions of the three next succeeding paragraphs, the term of office of a member of the Council of State shall be nine years:

Provided that a person chosen to fill a casual vacancy shall be chosen to serve only for the remainder of his predecessor's term of office.

6. Upon the first constitution of the Council of State persons shall be chosen to fill all the seats so allotted as aforesaid to Governors' Provinces, Chief Commissioners' Provinces and communities, but, for the purpose of securing that in every third year one-third of the holders of such seats shall retire, one-third of the persons first chosen shall be chosen to serve for three years only, one third shall be chosen to serve for six years only and one-third shall be chosen to serve for nine years, and thereafter in every third year persons shall be chosen to fill for nine years the seats then becoming vacant in consequence of the provisions of this paragraph.

7. Of the seats allotted to any Governors' Province, Chief Commissioners' Province or community the numbers specified in the third, fourth and fifth columns of the Table respectively shall be seats to be filled upon the first constitution of the Council by members chosen to serve for three years only, by members chosen to service for six years only, and by members chosen to serve for nine years.

8. Upon the first constitution of the Council of State two of the persons to be chosen by the Governor-General shall be chosen to serve for three years only, two shall be chosen to serve for six years only and two shall be chosen to serve for nine years.

9. In each of the following Provinces, that is to say, Madras, Bombay, the United Provinces and Bihar, such of the members of the Legislative Council of the Province as are Mahomedans shall be entitled—

  1. (a) upon the first constitution of the Council, to choose persons to fill two of the seats allotted to that Province, being two seats which under the foregoing provisions will by effluxion of time become vacant at different dates;
  2. (b) at any subsequent triennial election when seats allotted to the Province fall to be filled, to choose a person to fill one seat; and
  3. (c) on a casual vacancy occurring in a seat theretofore held by a person chosen in accordance with this paragraph, to choose a person to £11 that seat.

10.—(1) Subject to the provisions of the last preceding paragraph, persons to fill the seats allotted to Governor's Province shall, except in the case of a casual vacancy, be chosen according to the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote—

  1. (i) if the Province has a Legislative Council, by such members thereof as are not Anglo-Indians, Europeans or Indian Christians; and
  2. (ii) if the Province has not a Legislative Council, by the members of a Provincial Electoral College constituted in accordance with the provisions of the next succeeding paragraph.

When a casual vacancy occurs in a seat theretofore held by a person chosen in accordance with this paragraph, a person to fill the seat shall be chosen by such of the members of the Legislative Council or, as the case may be, of the Electoral College as are members of the same community as the person by whom the seat was held.

(2) In Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the United Provinces, the Punjab, and Bihar the foregoing provisions of fins paragraph shall have effect subject to such modifications as may be prescribed for securing that in the case of each of those Provinces one at least of the seats filled -in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph is always held by a woman and, in that connection, for determining what male candidate, if any, who would otherwise be elected, is to be replaced by a woman.

11. The composition of the Provincial Electoral Colleges referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be as shown in the following Table:—

Province. General Seats. Sikh Seats. Mahomedan Seats. Total.
Punjab 16 11 30 57
Central Provinces and Berar. 31 — 5 36
North-West Frontier Province. 5 1 19 25
Orissa 27 — 3 30
Sind 10 — 18 28

The members of a Provincial Electoral College shall be chosen by voters possessing such qualifications as may be prescribed and voting in territorial constituencies formed for the purposes of this paragraph, being either general, Such or Mahomedan constituencies.

To each such constituency one or more seats in the Electoral College shall be assigned, and in any of the general constituencies one or more seats may be reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes.

In a general constituency formed for the purposes of this paragraph, no person shall be entitled to vote who is an Anglo-Indian, a European, or an Indian-Christian, or is entitled to vote in a Sikh or Mahomedan constituency so formed, and in a Sikh or Mahomedan constituency so formed no person shall be entitled to vote who is not a Sikh or Mahomedan, as the case may be.

A Provincial Electoral College shall be dissolved and reconstituted at such intervals or in such circumstances as may be prescribed, but may act notwithstanding any vacancy in the membership thereof.

12. Persons to fill the seats allotted to Chief Commissioners' Provinces shall be chosen—

  1. (i) in the case of Coorg by the Legislative Council of the Province, and
  2. (ii) in other cases, in such manner as may be prescribed.

13. Persons to fill the seats allotted to the Anglo-Indian, European and Indian Christian communities shall be chosen by the members of Electoral Colleges consisting of such Anglo-Indians, Europeans and Indian Christians, as the case may be, as are members of the Legislative Council of any Governor's Province or of the Legislative Assembly of any Governor's Province.

The Rules regulating the conduct of elections by the European Electoral College shall be such as to secure that on any occasion where more than one seat falls to be filled by the College no two of the seats to be then filled shall be filled by persons who are normally resident in the same Province.

14. A person shall not be qualified to hold a seat in the Council of State unless—

  1. (a) in the case of a seat allotted to a Governor's Province, he is qualified to hold a seat in the Legislative Council or, as the case may be, the Provincial Electoral College of that Province;
  2. (b) in the case of a seat allotted to a Chief Commissioner's Province or a community, he possesses such qualifications as may be prescribed.

The Federal Assembly.

16. To each 'Governor's Province and Chief Commissioner's Province specified in the first column of the Table there shall be allotted the number of seats specified in the second column opposite to that Province, and of those seats—

(ii) the numbers specified in the next eight columns shall be the numbers of seats to be filled respectively by persons chosen to represent (a) the Sikh community; (b) the Mahomedan community; (c) the Anglo-Indian community; (d) the European community; (e) the Indian-Christian community; (f) the interests of commerce and industry; (g) land holders; and (h) the interests of labour; and

18. The provisions of this paragraph shall have effect with respect to the general seats reserved in any Governor's Province for members of the Scheduled Castes:—

For the purposes of a general election of members of the Federal Assembly,—

  1. (a) there shall be a primary electorate consisting of all persons who were successful candidates at the primary elections held, in accordance with the provisions of the Fifth Schedule to this Act, on the occasion of the last general election of members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province for the purpose of selecting candidates for seats reserved for members of the Scheduled Castes;
  2. (b) the primary electorate so constituted shall choose such number of persons as is equal to four times the number of general seats in the Federal Assembly reserved in the Province for members of the Scheduled Castes; and
  3. (c) no person who is not so chosen shall be qualified to be chosen to fill such a seat.

Rules made under this Part of this Schedule shall make provision as to the manner in which a casual vacancy occurring in a seat to which this paragraph applies is to be filled.

19. For the purpose of choosing persons to fill the women's seats in the Federal Assembly there shall be for British India an Electoral College consisting of such women as are members of the Legislative Assembly of any Governor's Province, and the person to fill a woman's seat allotted to any particular Province shall be chosen by the members of the College.

Rules regulating the conduct of elections by the women's Electoral College shall be such as to secure that, of the nine women's seats allotted to Provinces, at least two are held by Mahomedans and at least one by an Indian Christian.

General.

24.—(1) In the foregoing provisions of this Schedule the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them, that is to say:—