The Assembly would consist of elected representatives of the people, whose duty it would be to see that the government operated in their interests. The question of the advisability of adult franchise enters here; this highly advanced democratic prerogative, however fine in principle, would appear to be far too advanced a privilege for the illiterate masses which form the majority in India today. Most of our people are unable to assess the advantages of one political party over another, but are usually victims of powerful propaganda, or of vote-buying of one sort or the other. Our aim should be to obtain a fair representation of the people, perhaps through allowing the franchise to those with a certain minimum standard of literacy, until the mass of India’s people have been educated to the level of Adult Franchise. Until such a time, a general election would have a demoralizing effect, degenerating into nothing more dignified than a wholesale vote-catching whose effect would certainly be to undermine the people’s confidence in, and respect for, their government. Ideally, the franchise should be limited to those persons who would be able to appreciate the relative advantages of different political systems for their country as well as to evaluate the comparative qualifications of candidates standing for election; the voting of these people would confirm the State’s stability. However, I believe that some system of adult franchise is inevitable, and that the best way of offsetting its disadvantages would be the institution of indirect elections. Under this system, a group of villages having, perhaps, abou t 10,000 voters, would be required to elect a Primary Member; it is reasonably safe to assume that such a group is likely to elect a good man, and one who would truly represent their interests, as he would be well known to all or most of them. These Primary Members would then elect the members of the State or Provincial Assemblies. The Primary Members would be elected under a system of joint electorate, but it might be advisable to allot some seats on a proportionate basis as a temporary measure to ensure fair represntation of minorites.
