Notes – arguments against proportional representation #2

I'm extracting below extracts of comments against proportional representation made during India's Constituent Assembly debates (links provided).

Shrimati G. Durga Bai
the system of proportional representation would not improve matters in any way. That will only produce the effect that it would divide the whole House into warring groups and it will also produce all the disadvantages and defects of the French system.

 

Begum Aizaz Rasul
In spite of the great and able advocacy of Mr. Lari of the principle of proportional representation, I was not impressed by it. He quoted the example of other countries. Those countries are highly advanced, politically and educationally. They are much smaller in area and in number, and to compare India with those countries is, to my mind, not a very feasible proposition. In India the principle of proportional representation and single transferable vote is understood by very few people. Even in the legislatures it cannot work properly because there are very few people who know how to work that out. Where there are lakhs and lakhs of voter, the principle of cumulative votes cannot work successfully because the electorate is so big and illiterate that it will be impossible to work that system out. The only solution to my mind is joint electorates without any reservation of seats.

Pandit Balkrishna Sharma
think the idea that we should not frame the Constitution in this House struck the mind of my friend Seth Damodar Swarup rather too late. In my humble opinion, the arguments advanced by him are weak, groundless, uninteresting and senseless to such a degree as cannot be defined. His first argument is that the Constituent Assembly does not have a representative character. I would like to submit that there is ridiculous aspect of democracy, and that comes to the surface when to make democracy fully representative in character, we evolve such institutions as proportional representation and thereby establish fascism amongst ourselves. In Germany, Italy and France, wherever attempts were made to establish this type of Democracy, the only result was that it was soon transformed into fascism.

B. Pocker Sahib Bahadur
Election by proportional representation by single transferable vote will be a rather complicated method

B.Pocker Sahib Bahadur
I have one doubt as regard the system of proportional representation. by means of the single transferable vote. I ask you, Sir, to consider the question whether that is an effective system when the object is only to elect one candidate. I can understand the efficacy of that system when you have to elect a larger number of candidates than one. But if the candidate to be elected is only one, I do not know how far this system would be efficacious in achieving the object at all. The object of having election by means of proportional representation by single transferable vote is to give representation to various groups or sections or views among the voters. If the candidate to be elected is ultimately only one, I doubt if it is wise to undergo this laborious process of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. This is a matter to be considered by the House, particularly by the experts who have drafted this Report. They certainly must have thought about this point. I am afraid, in the first place, it has no effect at all so far as the object to be achieved is concerned, when the candidate to be elected is only one.

Mr. Tajamul Husain:
As regards proportional representation, Sir, what would be the result? Article 61 contemplates that after the general election, the party which is in a majority will elect its leader and that leader will be called upon by the President or the Governor-General, whoever he may be, to form the Ministry. He will be called the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister and he will submit the names to the President. If you have, Sir, election by means of the single transferable vote and proportional representation, a man maybe elected who does not see eye to eye with the majority party. What will happen then? Every country wants a smooth working of the Constitution, (Interruption) in day to day working. I submit that it would be absurd. Then, you must have Coalition Government every time whether a particular party is in the majority or not.
In England you had a Coalition Ministry. Because at onet ime when the Labour Party came to power they had not an absolute majority on account of the existence of other parties–the Liberals and Conservatives–and they formed Coalition Ministry for the purposes of the First Great War and the Second Great World War. But to have Coalition Ministry every day is absurd. Therefore I oppose this.

Shri R.K. Sidhva
those who are acquainted with the system know that proportional representation is cumbersome process and it has to be understood by an intelligent person. Mr. Lari wants to introduce this system in an electorate ranging from 50,000 to a lakh of voters. In Belgium and Switzerland there are hardly a few lakhs of population leave aside the small number of voters in their constituencies. In our country there are 40 crores of people and we have constituencies with voters numbering from 50,000 to a lakh. A system of proportional representation cannot work here. From the material supplied by the Constituent Assembly Office I find that in one country they experimented with this system and they had to revert to the majority ballot box system. In a general election this system can never work.

Prof. Shibbanlal Saksena
if we introduce it in our country just now, many difficulties arise in the way. To work this system properly, the electorate must be well educated, because the voters has to give his preferences and illiterate person will not be able to understand the significance of the various preferences. They will have to say whom they prefer first, whom second and whom third. Even in small elections by our Constituent Assembly where the system has been adopted, it has been found that most of the members do not understand it. Only skillful experts can understand how it works. In Ireland and Switzerland where the system has been adopted the electorate is highly educated and no constituency exceeds 30,000 in Eire and 22,000 in Switzerland. Supposing we adopt this system in our country, what will happen? In the United Provinces, with a population of 560 lakhs, about ten Muslims should be elected to the House of People on the population basis. If under proportional representation, all Muslim give their first preference in equal number to ten selected Muslim Candidates and the whole province be one Single constituency, then alone these men can be elected. But a whole province with 560 lacs of population cannot be one constituency.