As I stated yesterday, the Parliament should not be given power to lay down conditions which will disqualify men from being candidates. In fact even the Government of India Act did not give this power to the Federal Parliament and there they had laid down certain definite conditions which disqualified a candidate. I think this provision is liable to be abused by any party in power which may like its opponents to be disqualified. I have therefore suggested this amendment. As was suggested by another Friend here yesterday the new Parliament may say ‘Nobody can stand for election unless he pays income-tax or unless a high revenue is paid by him’. It is not quite impossible that sometimes reactionaries may come into power and they may not want any of their opponents to be elected. So I feel that this power of laying down qualifications and disqualifications of candidates should not be given to Parliament but the Constitution should provide these qualifications and disqualifications. The Constitution should definitely lay down the disqualifications of candidates. I hope that Dr. Ambedkar will include this in the draft.
(Amendments Nos. 1591 to 1608 were not moved.)