candidates at an election and the votes polled by them are respectively 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, the candidate who has polled only 30% votes is returned although this represents less than one-third of the total number of voters. While this may happen in both the direct and indirect systems of elections, the chances of a person representing the minority of the adult population as a member of an Assembly in the direct system are far less than such chances in an indirect system for the reason that elections in the latter system being held at two stages the returned candidate at each such stage may be representing the minority of the electors.
The main ground on which the system of indirect election is sought to be justified is that the average adult being illiterate and ignorant, his knowledge is limited only to local affairs of his area, and does not possess the capacity to appreciate provincial and national issues so as to be able to cast vote with understanding and a sense of responsibility and is also incapable of judging the suitability or otherwise of candidates hailing from outside his area and, as such, it is desirable that, for a realistic representation of the people, members of the Assemblies should be elected by a select body of persons of higher caliber, ability, and sense of responsibility. This argument, though apparently attractive, is not really sound. No adult is debarred under the Constitution from becoming a candidate at a primary election, or for that matter, at any other election only on the ground of his being illiterate or ignorant. Therefore, illiterate and ignorant adults who can command confidence of primary voters of their areas or secure the voters' support by reason of their wealth and influence may succeed at the primary election and become secondary voters to elect members of the Assemblies.......................
..........It is argued that, in the case of direct election, the number of voters in each constituency will be so large and the means of approach to them will be so limited that a large number of voters will remain indifferent and abstain from voting. In support of this contention an instance is cited that while as many as 70% of the voters cast their voters at the last election to Basic Democracies, the votes polled in the Provinces at the last general election in the direct method was hardly ever more than 40%. The percentage of votes polled at an election depends on various factors, but not necessarily on the method in which the election is held. The interest created among Voters by the programmes of, and persuasions by, the candidates, and the distances between the polling stations and the voters' places of residence are the main factors on which the attendance of voters largely depends. It is a known fact that the voters in general took keen interest in the general election held in 1945-46 because vital issues were involved in it. In spite of restricted franchise obtaining at that time, the number of voters in each constituency was enormous. Besides, the means of communication and transport facilities were hardly adequate. Even then, a large number of voters in each constituency, on account of the interest taken by them, attended the polling stations and cast their votes. This is borne out by the fact that in the 1945-46 general election in the undivided Punjab, as many as 60.32 per cent of voters cast vote, in the contested constituencies, vide the Election Commission's Report on the said election. In undivided Bengal, in the same year, in contested Muslim constituencies the percentage of voting ranged between 28.3 and 80. 6 the average being 54.9 vide the official Report on that election. Even in the case of the general election in the former Province of West Punjab in 1950-51. The percentage of the votes cast ranged
