Reserved seats in general constituencies neutered Untouchable political autonomy.

Evidence

According to the Pact, instead of separate electorates, the Untouchables would have reserved seats in general constituencies. The number of seats they were allotted in the provincial legislatures increased (from seventy-eight to 148), but the candidates, because they would now have to be acceptable to their privileged-caste–dominated constituencies, lost their teeth. Uncle Tom won the day. Gandhi saw to it that leadership remained in the hands of the privileged castes. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 393

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to reading on caste annihilation: the structural logic by which formal enfranchisement produces disenfranchisement echoes the redlining/mass-incarceration account in the Michelle Alexander passage the author cites.