The following Press Communique is issued by the Punjab Government [Lahore, December 7]: - In a recent statement published in newspapers Col. Wedgwood has written: “I have seen nothing worse than the way in which the Punjab Government has quite recently destroyed the Government of India Act so far as that province is concerned. They have so gerrymandered the franchise and constituencies that they themselves boast that the nationalists can only elect seven out of seventy supposed duly elected members.” This statement is entirely unfounded and the Government cannot let it pass unchallenged. The system on which elections have proceeded was outlined by the Southborough Committee and rules followed which were laid down by Parliament after consultation with the Government of India and the Punjab Government. These rules secure a system of elections far more liberal than that suggested by Lord Southborough’s Committee and there is nothing in them that can in any fairness be described as gerrymandering. To take one instance alone the Committee would have enfranchised about 237,000 persons. The existing rules enfranchise over half a million. The Government have no idea as to the origin of the legislation — that it has boasted that the nationalists can only elect seven out of seventy elected members. It is needless to say that no such boast has ever been made by Government.
