No rigid uniformity of property qualification has been sought, but the committee have proposed the same qualification for all communities within the same area. A substantially higher proportion of the urban than of the rural population will be enfranchised. At present the total number of electors for the provincial councils is 33,007, and of these no fewer than 17,448 are Mohammedans, since that community enjoys direct representation on an individual basis. The number of voters will be raised under the scheme to 5,179,000, being 2.34 per cent of the total population in the eight provinces, which is nearly 220,000,000. The long established administrative unit of the "district" is made the territorial area for constituencies but the relatively few cities with large populations are to be separately represented. Occasionally towns are grouped into separate urban constituencies. Single-member constituencies are the general rule, but latitude is left to the local Governments. Plural voting is to be forbidden, but this does not apply to electors in constituencies formed for the representation of special interests. SPECIAL COMMUNITIES In conformity with the recognition of the Joint Report that separate Mohammedan representation cannot be abandoned, the scheme provides for Mohammedan constituencies. The compact of the joint session of the National Congress and the Moslem League at Lucknow in December, 1916, is accepted as a guide in allocating the proportion of Mohammedan seats. In the Punjab this facility is to be extended to the Sikhs. Beyond this the framers of the Joint Report did not propose to go; but Lord Southborough's Committee recommend separate electorates, where the numbers justify that course, for Indian Christians, Europeans, and the domiciled "Anglo-Indians"--_i.e._, country-born Europeans and Eurasians. It is observed that candidates belonging to these communities would have no chance of being elected by general constituencies. The hope is expressed that it will be possible "at no very distant date to merge all communities into one general electorate." Other claims for separate electorates are not conceded. Regret is expressed that the organized non-Brahmans of the Madras Presidency refuse to appear before the Committee. It is pointed out that there the non-Brahmans (omitting the depressed or "untouchable" classes) outnumber the Brahmans by about 22 to one; and on the basis of enfranchisement taken in Madras the non-Brahmans would be in the proportion of four to one. It is held to be unreasonable to adopt the proposed expedient for a community which has an overwhelming electoral strength.