Government of India Act 1935

PART XII Sind.

General requirement as to residence.

1 No person shall be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for a territorial constituency unless he satisfies the requirement as to residence in relation to that constituency.

For the purposes of this Part of this Schedule a person shall be deemed to satisfy the requirement as to residence—

(a) in relation to an urban constituency, if he has for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty days in the previous financial year resided in a house in the constituency or within two miles of the boundary thereof;

(b) in the case of a rural constituency, if he has for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty days in the previous financial year resided in a house in the constituency or in a contiguous constituency of the same communal description :

Provided that a person shall be deemed to satisfy the requirement as to residence in relation to any European territorial constituency if he has, for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty days in the previous financial year, resided in a house in the

A person is deemed to reside in a house if he sometimes uses it as a sleeping place, and a person is not deemed to cease to reside in a house merely because he is absent from it, or has another dwelling in which he resides, if he is at liberty to return to the house at any time and has not abandoned his intention of returning.

Qualifications dependent on taxation.

2 Subject to the provisions of Part I of this Schedule and to any overriding provisions of this Part of this Schedule, a person shall be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency, if he was assessed during the previous financial year to income tax.

Qualifications dependent on property.

3 Subject as aforesaid, a person shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency if he—

(a) holds in his own right or occupies as a permanent tenant or as a lessee from the Government alienated or unalienated land in the constituency on which, in any one of the five revenue years preceding that in which the prescribed date falls, an assessment of not less than eight rupees land revenue has been paid, or would have been paid if the land had not been alienated; or

(b) cultivates as a Hari alienated or unalienated land in theconstituency on which in the revenue year preceding that in which the prescribed date falls an assessment of not less than sixteen rupees land revenue has been leviable, or would have been leviable if the land had not been alienated; or

(c) is the alienee of the right of the Government to the payment of rent or land revenue amounting to not less than eight rupees in respect of alienated land in the constituency; or

(d) occupies as owner or tenant in the constituency a house or building situate in the city of Karachi or in any municipal borough, municipal district, cantonment or notified area, and having at least the appropriate value.

Where land is cultivated by more than one Hari, only one Hari for every sixteen rupees of land revenue shall be treated as qualified under sub-paragraph (b) of this paragraph in respect of that land, and any question which of several Haris shall be treated as qualified under this paragraph in respect of any land shall be determined in the prescribed manner.

In sub-paragraph (d) of this paragraph, the expression " the appropriate value " means—

(i) in relation to a house or building situate within the city of Karachi, an annual rental value of thirty rupees;

(ii) in relation to a house or building situate outside the city of Karachi but in an area in which a tax is based on the annual rental value of houses or buildings, an annual rental value of eighteen rupees;

(iii) in relation to any other house or building, a capital value of seven hundred and fifty rupees.

Educational qualification.

4 Subject as aforesaid, a person shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency if he is proved in the prescribed manner to have passed the matriculation or school leaving examination of the university of Bombay or an examination prescribed as at least equivalent to either of those examinations or, if it is so prescribed, any other prescribed examination, not being lower than a vernacular final examination.

Qualification by reason of service in His Majesty's forces.

5 Subject as aforesaid, a person shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency if he is a retired, pensioned or discharged officer, noncommissioned officer or soldier of His Majesty's regular military forces.

Additional qualification for women.

6 Subject as aforesaid, a person who is a woman shall also be qualified to be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency, if she is the pensioned widow or the pensioned mother of a person who was an officer, non-commissioned officer or soldier of His Majesty's regular military forces, or if she is proved in the prescribed manner to be literate, or if her husband possesses the qualifications requisite for. the purposes of this paragraph.

7 A husband shall not be deemed to possess the qualifications requisite for the purposes of the last preceding paragraph unless he satisfies the requirement as to residence in relation to the constituency in question, but, subject as aforesaid a husband shall be deemed to possess the said qualifications if he—

(a) was in the previous financial year assessed to income tax; or

(b) is a retired, pensioned or discharged officer, noncommissioned officer, or soldier of His Majesty's regular military forces; or

(c) holds in his own right or occupies as a permanent tenant or as a lessee from the Government alienated or unalienated land in the constituency on which, in any one of the five revenue years preceding that in which the prescribed date falls, an assessment of land revenue amounting, in the Upper Sind Frontier district, to not less than sixteen rupees, and, elsewhere, to not less than thirty-two rupees, has been paid, or would have been paid if the land had not been alienated; or

(d) is the alienee of the right of the Government to the payment of rent or land revenue in respect of alienated land in the constituency, amounting, in the Upper Sind Frontier district, to not less than sixteen rupees, and, elsewhere, to not less than thirty-two rupees; or

(e) occupies as owner or tenant in the constituency a house or building situate in the city of Karachi or" in a municipal borough, municipal district, cantonment or notified area, and having at least the appropriate value.

In sub-paragraph (e) of this paragraph, the expression " appropriate value " means—

(i) in relation to a house or building within the city of Karachi, an annual rental value of sixty rupees;

(ii) in relation to a house or building situate in any other area in which any tax is based on the annual rental value of houses or buildings, an annual rental value of thirty-six rupees; and

(iii) in relation to any other house or building, a capital value of one thousand five hundred rupees.

Application necessary for enrolment in certain cases.

8 No person shall by virtue of paragraph four or paragraph six of this Part of this Schedule be included in the electoral roll for any territorial constituency unless application is made in the prescribed manner by him, or, if it is so prescribed, on his behalf that he should, be so included.

Provisions as to joint property, &c.

9 (1) Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, any reference in this Part of this Schedule to land or other immovable property, or to rent or land revenue in respect of alienated land, shall, in relation to any persons who are co-sharers in such land, property, rent or land revenue, be construed as a reference to the respective shares of those persons.

(2) Where two or more persons occupy any house, the rental value of the house shall, in relation to each of those persons, be deemed to be the rental value thereof divided by the number of those persons.

(3) Where property is owned, held or occupied, or payments are made, jointly by, or assessments are made jointly on, the members of a joint family, and the property, payments or assessments would qualify a person if they had been owned, held, occupied or made by or on him solely, then, subject to the provisions of Part I of this Schedule and to any overriding provisions of this Part of this Schedule, one member of the family shall be qualified in respect of the property, payment or assessment, and that person shall be, in the case of a Hindu joint family, the manager thereof and in other cases the member authorised in that behalf by the family themselves.

Save as aforesaid any property owned, held or occupied or payments made jointly by, or assessments made jointly on, the members of a joint family, shall be left out of account for the purposes of this Part of this Schedule.

(4) Nothing in this paragraph affects the provisions of Part I of this Schedule relating to partners in firms assessed to income tax or the provisions of this Part of this Schedule relating to Haris.

Interpretation, &c.

10 (1) In this Schedule, in relation to Sind—

• " tenant " means a lessee whether holding under an Instrument or under an oral agreement, and includes a mortgagee of a tenant's rights with possession, and, in relation to a house not situate in military or police lines, also includes any person occupying the house rent free by virtue of any office, service or employment ;

• " holder " means a person lawfully in possession of land, whether his possession is actual or not, and " hold " shall be construed accordingly.

(2) The value of any machinery, furniture or equipment contained in or situate upon any house or building shall not be included in estimating for the purposes of this Part of this Schedule the rental value or the capital value of the house or building.

(3) In computing for the purposes of this Part of this Schedule the assessable value of any land, regard shall be had to the average rate of assessment on assessed land in the same village or, if there is no such land in the same village, the average rate of assessment on assessed land in the nearest village containing assessed land.