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
[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
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