IOR/Q/IFC

The Indian Franchise Committee was one of three committees set up as a result of the Round Table Conference. Their purpose was to collect the information needed for the preparation of the bill which eventually became the 1935 Government of India Act.

Between the wars there was an urgent need to find a form of government which would satisfy Indian aspirations as well as British interests, and would provide a solution to the communal problem. Between 1930 and 1932 the British Government parties, together with representatives of the Indian princes, Muslims, liberals and minority groups, worked towards an all-India federation at the Round Table Conference in London. At the end of the first session the Prime Minister made a statement promising that a new constitution would be framed. The collapse of consultation came during the second session, when Hindus and Muslims could not agree over safeguards for the latter in a revised constitution. The princes were divided among themselves about the terms upon which they would enter into a relationship with British India, and the Government showed more concern for its imperial interests than for Indian freedom. So, British ministers had to take the initiative. On 5 October 1931 Lord Sankey, the Lord Chancellor, advocated the division of constitutional reform into two stages, promising a large measure of provincial autonomy at once. Sir Samuel Hoare, Secretary of State for India, further promised that preparations for federation would be made by enquiries into outstanding problems and by negotiations with the Indian princes, and that Britain would consult the provinces and states before introducing a federal bill.

In November 1931 Hoare completed a proposal for submission to the Cabinet for advance in two stages, first to provincial autonomy without changing the Central Government, and later to federation. If necessary a communal award would be issued to enable provincial autonomy to be introduced in 1932 and the pledge on central responsibility within an all-India federation, given effective safeguards and reserve powers, would be renewed. To prove its sincerity the British Government would provide for the dispatch to India of expert committees of enquiry into the outstanding problems involved in federation. These expert committees of enquiry went to India early in 1932 and reported by the middle of the year. They were the Federal Finance Committee, the Indian States Enquiry Committee, and the Indian Franchise Committee, all providing Hoare with the information which he and the India Office needed to draft the new bill. When the third session of the Conference opened on 17 November 1932 Sankey had already prepared a bill based on findings which included those of the Indian Franchise Committee.

The appointment of the committee was recommended by the Franchise Committee of the Round Table Conference, and its brief was to provide complete and detailed proposals on which to base the revision of the franchise and the arrangement of constituencies for the Central and Provincial Legislatures which were to form part of the new constitution. Upon these proposals depended the size and composition of the legislatures.

The committee was made up of members from Parliament and British India, with the Marquess of Lothian, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for India, as Chairman. The Joint Secretaryship was shared by Gilbert Laithwaite of the India Office and Thomas Cooke Samuel Jayaratnam of the Indian Civil Service. They were responsible for the smooth running of the programme, the collation of evidence and the preparation of the report.

Progress and procedure:

The British members arrived at Bombay on 29 January 1932 and the committee as a whole began work on 1 February at Delhi. During the next three months they visited every province in India apart from the Central Provinces and Assam (they had, however, full discussions with members of the governments and provincial committees of those two provinces). The British and Indian Governments stressed the importance of speed in order to avoid any delay in the preparation of the new constitution. The committee aimed to secure the fullest possible appreciation of the trend of opinion, official and non-official, on the subjects referred for consideration, and to achieve this it established provincial committees which could draw on personal experience of the working of the existing electoral machinery. These committees were constituted in each province by the local government and were composed of non-official representatives and of members with official experience and access to government records. Each had about fifteen members, together acting as spokesmen of the various interests existing in a province.

Because of the limited time available, a questionnaire covering the main subjects which would be under discussion was compiled before the British members left London:

• 1 Extension of the franchise
• 2 Franchise qualifications
• 3 Women’s suffrage
• 4 Representation of the Depressed Classes
• 5 Representation of labour
• 6 Representation of special interests
• 7 Allocation of seats to the British India Provinces
• 8 Representation of women
• 9 General observations

Copies of the questionnaire were telegraphed to local governments and provincial committees. Local governments were also asked to arrange that the fullest possible publicity be given to it, with notices in the press inviting statements of the views of individuals or associations. Particularly influential and representative individuals in the provinces received copies direct.

The procedure contemplated by the committee was that local governments should formulate their own views on points raised in the questionnaire and be in a position to discuss them on its arrival. The provincial committees should independently formulate provisional views and conduct a preliminary examination of witnesses on the basis of their written statements. This procedure worked well. On arrival in each province the committee found waiting the provisional recommendations of the local governments and provincial committees plus a mass of considered and tabulated information. Also available were the statements of witnesses. The committee’s discussions with the provincial committees and local governments, and their oral examination of witnesses in every province, resulted in the emergence of points needing further clarification. So, on leaving, the committee invited further consideration by the local governments and provincial committees which resulted in supplementary reports [see IOR/Q/RTC/58-66]. Although the bulk of the work lay in the provinces, valuable evidence was also received from members of the Council of State and the Legislative Assembly when visiting Delhi, and the committee also ascertained the views of a number of All-India Associations. The Government of India was invited to express its views but, while its Secretariat was at the committee’s disposal, it declined an official meeting.

The committee’s report contained a complete scheme for the basis of the franchise, proposals regarding the representation of women and labour, and a provisional allotment of seats to the minority interests which, it was considered, should receive special representation in both the Provincial Legislatures and the Federal Assembly. There was no attempt to settle the communal problem, which was to be treated as a separate issue by the British Government.

Members of the Indian Franchise Committee:

Philip Henry Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for India (Chairman)

Sir John Kerr (Deputy Chairman)

Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Untouchables)

Khan Bahadur Maulvi Aziz-ul-Huque (Muslims)

Raghunath Ramchandra Bakhale (Hindu Liberals)

Sir Ernest Bennett, MP

Richard Austen Butler, MP

Chirravoori Yajneswara Chintamani (Hindu Liberals)

Basil Sheridan Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 4th Marquess of Dufferin & Ava

Ernest Miller (European Commerce)

Maj James Milner, MP

Diwan Bahadur A Ramaswami Mudaliya (Justice Party)

Mary Pickford, MP

Mrs P Subbarayan (Indian Women)

Sardar Bahadur Sir Sardar Singh Majithia (Sikhs)

Shripad Balwant Tambe (Hindu Mahasabha)

Sir Mohammad Yakub (Muslims)

Sir Zulfiqar Ali Khan (Muslims)

John Gilbert Laithwaite (Joint Secretary)

Thomas Cooke Samuel Jayaratnam, ICS (Joint Secretary)