Insight of the Representation of People Act, 1950


Objective:
The objective of the Act is (1) the allocation of seats in the House of the People and the Legislatures of States (2) delimitation of constituencies for the purpose of Election (3) the qualifications of voters for elections of House of the People and the Legislatures of States (4) the preparation of electoral rolls and (5) the manner of filling seats in the Council of States to be filled by representatives of Union territories.

Allocation of Seats[1]:
This Act speaks about 3 kinds of Constituencies- (a) Parliamentary Constituency (b) Assembly Constituency (c) Council Constituency. Allocation of seats means (1) total number of seats to the States in the house of people and the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in each State (2) total number of seats to the States in the Legislative Assembly of each State and the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the State (3) total number of seats in the Legislative Councils of the States having such Councils.

Filling of Seats[2]:
With respect to parliamentary constituencies all the seats in the House of the People allotted to the States shall be filled by persons chosen by direct election from parliamentary constituencies in the States. Every State to which only one seat is allotted shall form one parliamentary constituency. With respect to Legislative Assembly of each State all the seats shall be filled by persons chosen by direct election from Assembly Constituencies. Special provisions are made for filling of seats in the State Assembly of Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram and Meghlaya and for reservation of seats for Scheduled tribe. In case of Legislative Council of each State shall be filled as per provisions of Article 171 (3) & (5) of the constitution of India, 1950. Every parliamentary constituency and Assembly constituency shall be a single-member constituency.

The Delimitation of Parliamentary, Assembly and Council Constituencies[3]:
The Delimitation means extent of all parliamentary constituencies, each assembly constituency in all the States and Union territories shall be determined by the orders of the Delimitation Commission[4]. In Legislative Council the President shall determine--(a) the constituencies into which each State having a Legislative Council & (b) the extent of each constituency.

All the orders relating to the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies made by the Delimitation Commission or the Election Commission and published in the Official Gazette, shall be consolidate into one single order by the Election Commission to be known as the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order and shall send authentic copies to the Central Government and to the Government of each State having a Legislative Assembly. That Order shall have the force of law and shall not be called in question in any court. After receiving the order Central Government or State Government shall lay the order before the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State as the case may be to pass.

The Election Commission may correct any printing mistake, make desired amendments in the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order. Where the boundaries or name of any district or any territorial division is altered the Election Commission may make such amendments to bring the Order up-to-date[5]. Every such notification shall be laid before the House of the People and the Legislative Assembly of the State concerned.

Reservation of constituencies for Scheduled Tribes[6]:
The Election Commission shall have the power to determine the extent of assembly constituencies in the States of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura in which seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes with the prescribed procedure.

Officers[7]:
This Act provides 4 officers, namely- Chief electoral officers, District election officers, Electoral registration officers and Assistant electoral registration officers. For each state there shall be Chief electoral officers, for every district there shall be District election officers. The chief electoral officer shall supervise the preparation, revision and correction of all electoral rolls in the State. The district election officer shall coordinate and supervise all work in the district or in the area within his jurisdiction in connection with the preparation and revision of the electoral rolls for all parliamentary, assembly and council constituencies within the district. The electoral roll for each parliamentary constituency in the State of Jammu and Kashmir or in a Union territory not having a Legislative Assembly each assembly constituency and each Council constituency shall be prepared and revised by an electoral registration officer. Every assistant electoral registration officer shall, perform all or any of the functions of the electoral registration officer.

Electoral Rolls[8]:
For every Parliamentary Constituencies it shall not be necessary to prepare separately the electoral roll. The electoral roll for Parliamentary Constituencies shall consist of the electoral rolls for all the assembly constituencies comprise within that parliamentary constituency. For every Assembly constituency there shall be an electoral roll which shall be prepared under the superintendence, direction and control of the Election Commission[9]. For every constituency Election Commission shall prepared an electoral roll under his superintendence, direction and control. Council constituencies mean ‘local authorities' constituency", "graduates' constituency" and "teachers' constituency[10]. The electorate roll for local authorities' constituency" shall consist of members of such local authorities and every member of each such local authority shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll for that constituency. The electorate roll for the graduates' constituencies and the teachers' constituencies, every person who is ordinarily resident in a graduates' constituency and has been a graduate of a University in the territory of India shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll for that constituency; and every person who is ordinarily resident in a teachers' constituency, and has been engaged in teaching in any of the educational institutions shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll for that constituency.

Conditions of registration in Electoral Roll [11]
Every person who (a) is not less than eighteen years of age on the qualifying date, and (b) is ordinarily resident[12] in a constituency, shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll for that constituency.

Disqualifications for registration in an Electoral Roll[13]
A person shall be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll if he- (a) is not a citizen of India or (b) is of unsound mind and so declared by a competent court or (c) is disqualified from voting under the provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices and other offences in connection with elections. The name of any person who becomes so disqualified after registration shall forthwith be struck off the Electoral roll.

Preparation and revision of Electoral Rolls[14]
The electoral roll for each constituency shall be prepared  and revised (i) before each general election to the House of the People or to the Legislative Assembly of a State  and (ii) before each bye-election to fill a casual vacancy in a seat allotted to the constituency and been directed by the Election Commission:

Grounds for Correction of entries in electoral rolls[15]
If the electoral registration officer for a constituency is satisfied that any entry in the electoral roll of the constituency-(a) is erroneous or defective or (b) should be transposed (reverse) to another place in the roll on the ground that the person concerned has changed his place of ordinary residence within the constituency or (c) should be deleted on the ground that the person concerned is dead or has ceased to be ordinarily resident in the constituency, the electoral registration officer shall  amend, transpose or delete the entry in electoral rolls accordingly.

Inclusion of names in electoral rolls[16]  Any person may apply to the electoral registration officer for the inclusion of his name in that roll a constituency. The electoral registration officer shall, after satisfaction, direct his name to be included therein. If the applicant is registered in the electoral roll of any other constituency, the electoral registration officer shall inform the electoral registration officer of that other constituency and that officer shall, on receipt of the information, strike off the applicant's name from that roll.
Jurisdiction of civil courts barred[17] Civil courts shall not have jurisdiction to adjudicate upon any question whether any person is or is not entitled to be registered in an electoral roll for a constituency.

Making false declarations[18] If any person makes a false statement or declaration in writing in connection with (a) the preparation, revision or correction of an electoral roll, or (b) the inclusion or exclusion of any entry in or from an electoral roll, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Breach of official duty in connection with the preparation, etc., of electoral rolls[19] If any electoral registration officer, assistant electoral registration officer is guilty of any act or omission in breach of their official duty in connection with the preparation, revision or correction of an electoral roll or the inclusion or exclusion of any entry in or from that roll, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term from three months to two years and with fine.  Court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable only when a complaint is made by order of the ElectionCommission or the Chief Electoral Officer of the State concerned.

This Act gives an understanding to the students of Law to aware about overall role of Election commission to fill the seats in the House of People, legislative Assemble and legislative council.


[1] Sections 3,7,10 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[2] Sections 4,7,10 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[3] Sections 4,7,8,10,11,12,13 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[4] under the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 1972
[5] Section 9 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[6] Sections 9A , 9B of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[7] Section 13 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[8] Section 13 D of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[9] Section 15 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[10] Section 27 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950

[11] Section 19 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[12] Section 20 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[13] Section 16 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[14] Section 21 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[15] Section 22 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[16] Section 23 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[17] Section 30 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[18] Section 31 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950
[19] Section 32 of the Representation  of People Act, 1950

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher As: Critical Pedagogue

ROLE CONFLICT PROBLEM AMONG WORKING WOMEN

Rights and obligations of Issuer, Participant and Beneficial owner under the Depository Act, 1996