§ Mr. Piratinasked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he is aware that in Shahjahanpur in the United Provinces, 2,000 workers in the Government tailoring workshops, who are members of a registered trade union, are excluded from the franchise owing to the fact that their union has not been founded within the two-year qualifying period; and what steps he will take to ensure that these workers are enabled to participate in the forthcoming elections.
§ Mr. A. HendersonUnder paragraph 16 (1).of Part V of the Government of India (Provincial Legislative Assemblies) Order, 1936, a trade union can be a constituent trade union in the United Provinces trade union labour constituency only if it is certified by the Governor as having been in existence for at least two years and to have been registered as a trade union for at least one year. No steps can accordingly be taken to enfranchise the trade union referred to without amendment of the Order, which, even if it were found desirable, could not be effected in time for the present elections.
§ Mr. Piratinasked the Under-Secretary of State for India if he is aware of the fact that in the Madras Province two Communists, Manali Kandaswamy and Amrithalingam, who are leaders in the peasant movement, have been expelled from their districts and are unable to take part in the election campaign; and what steps he will take to secure the revocation of such expulsion orders, and to place these people on the electoral registers.
§ Mr. A. HendersonI am making inquiries into this matter.