The Union Home Minister’s attitude towards double member constituencies appears to have undergone a sea-change. He is now in favour of their abolition although it was he who sired the Constitution (Eighth Amendment) Bill in parliament last year, extending the constitutional period of reservation in Parliament and in the State Legislatures for the Scheduled Castes(SC) by another ten years. Shri Pant’s argument then was that the reasons which necessitated the system (to give adequate representation to SCs) had not ceased to exist, substantiating this argument by quoting from the report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes. The Bill was adopted in spite of the bitter opposition from the members of SC, which the bill was supposed to protect. In opposing the continuance of the double member constituencies, many members of the SC quoted from the same report as did Shri Pant, pointing out that the Commissioner had clearly stated that political concessions of the sort envisaged in the system of double-member constituencies hardly helped to emancipate Harijans, either socially or politically. That the SC members in the Congress Parliamentary Party continue to stick to that position is therefore not surprising. Quite apart from the wishes of the leaders of the SC, the Union Home Minister has not given other reasons for his change of mind. One is that double-member constituencies are unwieldy and the other is that the CMs of most states were also in favour of the abolition of this system of reservation. To a certain extent, the SC has improved its political position (though not its social position) considerably in the last ten years and some of them feel that the present system of protection perpetuates the discrimination.
Therefore, there is much to be said for the abolition of double –member constituencies. But it is unclear whether the bifurcation of double-member constituencies into single-member constituencies will automatically be followed by the abolition of reservation of seats for the SC. If is does, as indeed it should, the onus of providing for adequate representation to the SCs in Parliament and state legislatures will fall on the political parties. There are several instances of SC candidates successfully contesting unreserved seats and there is no reason why this should not be encouraged. It is up to the Congress party to decide whether this should be done or not for, if it gives a lead in the matter, other parties will be forced to follow. Shri Pant should think along these lines, which offer a more practical way to break the caste barrier than constitutional guarantees.
26th November, 1960.
