CHAPTER VII
THE ELECTORATE
Various Views
103..........
104. Opinion, expressed mainly with regard to the election of the legislatures, was in favor of universal franchise, apparently influenced by a provision to that effect in the late Constitution. The official delegation, however, took the stand that the country was not ripe for a direct election of the President, the Vice-President and the legislatures, on universal franchise. They advocated election through an electoral college of Basic Democracies, which have in turn been elected on universal franchise. Their argument was that an average adult, owing to the widespread illiteracy, is not capable of discriminating between the candidates living outside his village, town or neighborhood and that, at the time of the election of the Basic Democrats, it was made known that the persons clected might be called upon to clect the President and the Parliament. They, therefore, suggested that the elected members of the Basic Democracies should form the Electoral College for the election of the President and the Parliament. The majority of opinions, as regards the President, was in favor of indirect election through an electoral college, like the Basic Democracies, or any other college, obviously because, in the late Constitution, a similar mode of election had been prescribed for the President (which election was however, to be under a parliamentary form). For reasons, which shall be seated in their appropriate place, our considered opinion is that the President, owing to the extraordinary position he occupies under the presidential system, bearing very heavy responsibilities, should command the confidence of the people, and that such confidence would be forthcoming only by a direct election.
Suffrage: Universal or Qualified
105. We shall first take up the question of universal suffrage. One of the theories, as to the nature of suffrage, is that it is a natural and inherent right of every citizen who is not disqualified by reason of his own reprehensible conduct or unfitness, while the other view is that it is not an inherent right but a public office or function conferred by the State upon only such persons as are believed to be most capable of exercising it for the public good and not a natural right which belongs without distinction to all citizens of the State. The latter views seem to have been adopted by practically all writers on political science and we agree with it. The very fact that, even according to the former view, a voter should be an adult indicates that maturity of judgment is required for a voter as he has to make a selection from amongst the several candidates. From this it follows that the right to vote is not an inherent right like the right to liberty. It is; therefore, correct to say that suffrage is an office or function, conferred, not on all, but only on those who are able to discharge its obligation......
Supporters of universal franchise, however, contend that some of the liberate people are shrewd enough to judge persons better than the educated. It may be so in some cases, but, on an average, it is safer, in our opinion, to prefer a man with knowledge sufficient to
