Indian Constitution 5
14. Electoral Laws
Elections
The Election Commission shall have the power of superintendence , direction and conduct of all elections to Parliament and the State legislatures and of elections to the offices of the president and Vice president (Art 324(1)). The Election commission shall consists of chief election commissioner and such other commissioners as the president may from time to time fix. The constitution provides that the chief Election commissioner cannot be removed from his office except in like manner and on like grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court.
Electoral Laws & System: Elections are conducted according to the constitutional provisions, supplemented by laws made by Parliament. The major laws are Representation of the People Act, 1950, which mainly deals with the preparation and revision of electoral rolls, the Representation of the People Act, 1951 which deals, in detail, with all aspects of conduct of elections and post election disputes.
Appointment & Tenure of Commissioners
The President appoints Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. They have tenure of six years, or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. They enjoy the same status and receive salary and perks as available to Judges of the Supreme Court of India. The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by Parliament. All Election Commissioners have equal say in the decision making of the Commission.
All the expenditure relating to actual conduct of elections to Parliament is borne entirely by the Union Government while for the elections being held only for the State Legislature, the expenditure is borne entirely by the concerned State. In case of simultaneous elections to the Parliament and State Legislature, the expenditure is shared equally between the Union and the State Governments.
The Election Commission prepares, maintains and periodically updates the Electoral Roll, which shows who is entitled to vote, supervises the nomination of candidates, registers political parties, monitors the election campaign, including candidates’ funding. It also facilitates the coverage of the election process by the media, organises the polling booths where voting takes place, and looks after the counting of votes and the declaration of results. All this is done to ensure that elections can take place in an orderly and fair manner.
Eligibility of candidates to Legislatures
Any Indian citizen who is registered as a voter and is over 25 yearsof age is allowed to contest elections to the Lok Sabha or State Legislative Assemblies. For the Rajya Sabha the age limit is 30 years. Candidates for the Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Sabha should be a resident of the same state as the constituency from which they wish to contest.
Every candidate has to make a deposit of Rs. 10,000/- for Lok Sabha election and 5,000/- for Rajya Sabha or Vidhan Sabha elections, except for candidates from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who pay half of these amounts. The deposit is returned if the candidate receives more than one-sixth of the total number of valid votes polled in the constituency. Nominations must be supported at least by one registered elector of the constituency, in the case of a candidate sponsored by a registered Party and by ten registered electors from the constituency in the case of other candidates.
Election Petitions
Any elector or candidate can file an election petition if he or she thinks there has been malpractice during the election. An election petition is not an ordinary civil suit, but treated as a contest in which the whole constituency is involved. Election petitions aretried by the High Court of the State involved, and if upheld can even lead to the restaging of the election in that constituency.
Delimitation
Delimitation is the redrawing of the boundaries of parliamentary or assembly constituencies to make sure that there are, as near as practicable, the same number of people in each constituency. In India boundaries are meant to be examined after the ten-yearly census to reflect changes in population, for which Parliament by law establishes an independent Delimitation Commission, made up of the Chief Election Commissioner and two judges or ex-judges from the Supreme Court or High Court.
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15. Schedules
12 schdules of our constitution
Schedules | Remarks |
First | List of States and Union territories |
Second | Salary payable to President, Governors, Judges of Supreme Court and High Court, Speaker of Lok Sabha & Legislative assemblies, Chairman and deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha & legislative councils, CAG |
Third | Oaths and Affirmations |
Fourth | Seats allocated to each state in Rajya Sabha |
Fifth | Provisions for the control & administration of Scheduled areas and Scheduled Tribes. |
Sixth | Provisions for administration of Scheduled Areas in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh |
Seventh | Union list, State list and Concurrent list |
Eighth | 22 languages. 1. Assamese 2. Bengali 3. Bodo 4. Dogri 5. Gujarati 6. Hindi 7. Kannada 8. Kashmiri 9. Konkani 10. Maithili 11. Malayalam 12. Manipuri 13. Marathi 14. Nepali 15. Oriya 16. Punjabi 17. Sanskrit 18. Santhali 19. Sindhi 20. Tamil 21. Telugu 22. Urdu |
Ninth | List of acquisition laws |
Tenth | Provisions for the disqualification on the ground of defection |
Eleventh | functional areas or subject necessary for the development and social justice in each Panchayat |
Twelfth | three types of Muncipal committees- Nagar Panchayat for transitional area, Muncipal council for smaller urban areas and Muncipal corporation for large urban areas |
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16. Some short notes to remember
National development council
National development council is an extra-constitutional and extra legal body formed in 1952, as an adjunct to the planning commission, to associate the states in the formulation of plans. The functions of the council are to strengthen and mobilise the efforts and resources of the nation in support of the plans and to promote common economic policies in all vital spheres and to ensure the balanced and rapid development of all parts of the country.
National development council is an extra-constitutional and extra legal body formed in 1952, as an adjunct to the planning commission, to associate the states in the formulation of plans. The functions of the council are to strengthen and mobilise the efforts and resources of the nation in support of the plans and to promote common economic policies in all vital spheres and to ensure the balanced and rapid development of all parts of the country.
National integration
National integration council is a non-constitutional body created to deal with the welfare for minorities on an all-India basis.
National integration council is a non-constitutional body created to deal with the welfare for minorities on an all-India basis.
Planning commission
Planning commission is an extra constitutional and non statutory body set up a resolution in 1950 of the union cabinet by Prime Minister Nehru with himself as its first chairman, to formulate anintegrated five year plan for economic and social development and to act as an advisory body to the Union Government in this behalf.
Planning commission is an extra constitutional and non statutory body set up a resolution in 1950 of the union cabinet by Prime Minister Nehru with himself as its first chairman, to formulate anintegrated five year plan for economic and social development and to act as an advisory body to the Union Government in this behalf.
Inter-state council
Article 263 empowers the President to create inter-state council to serve the public interest. Constitution gives three-fold duties that may be assigned to this council. a) the duty of inquiring into and advising upon disputes which may have arisen between states.
Article 263 empowers the President to create inter-state council to serve the public interest. Constitution gives three-fold duties that may be assigned to this council. a) the duty of inquiring into and advising upon disputes which may have arisen between states.
b) to Investigate and discus subjects of common interest between union or states or between two or more.
c) To make recommendation for co-ordination of policy and action relating to such subject. This council consists of 6 union cabinet ministers and the chief ministers of all the states.
All India services
Article 312 provides the parliament to create one or more all India service like IAS,IPS etc. to impart greater cohesion to the federal system and greater efficiency to the administration in both the union and states.
Article 312 provides the parliament to create one or more all India service like IAS,IPS etc. to impart greater cohesion to the federal system and greater efficiency to the administration in both the union and states.
Zonal council
Zonal council have been established by the states reorganisation Act, 1956 to advise on matters of common interest to each of the five zones into which the territory of India has been divided. – Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and central. Each zonal council consists of the chief minister and two other ministers of each states in the zone and the administrator in case of union territory .The union home minister is the chairman of this council. Besides these, there is North Eastern Council set up in 1971 , to deal with the common problems of North Eastern Councils.
Zonal council have been established by the states reorganisation Act, 1956 to advise on matters of common interest to each of the five zones into which the territory of India has been divided. – Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and central. Each zonal council consists of the chief minister and two other ministers of each states in the zone and the administrator in case of union territory .The union home minister is the chairman of this council. Besides these, there is North Eastern Council set up in 1971 , to deal with the common problems of North Eastern Councils.
River Board
The River Boards Act 1956 provides for the establishement of a River Board for the purpose of advising the Governments interested in relation to the regulation or development of an inter state river or river valley.
The River Boards Act 1956 provides for the establishement of a River Board for the purpose of advising the Governments interested in relation to the regulation or development of an inter state river or river valley.
Water disputes Tribunal
Water Disputes Act, 1956 provides for the reference of an inter state river dispute for arbitration by a Water Dsputes Tribunal, whose award should be final according to Art 262(2A).
Water Disputes Act, 1956 provides for the reference of an inter state river dispute for arbitration by a Water Dsputes Tribunal, whose award should be final according to Art 262(2A).
Some important articles
Art 350 A: to provide instruction in the mother tongue at the preliminary stages of education of children belonging to linguistic minority.
Art 351 : To promote the spread of the Hindi language
Art 335 : enjoins that the claim of SC and ST should be taken into consideration while making appointments .
Art 131 provides for the judicial determination of one class of disputes between states by vesting the Supreme Court with exclusive jurisdiction.
Art 262 provides for the adjudication of one class of such disputes by an extra-judicial tribunal .e.g. disputes regarding control of waters, any inter-state river or river valley
Art 263 provides for the prevention of inter-state disputes by investigation and recommendation by an administrative body.
The executive functions of the government of India can be entrusted to the state government with their consent (Art 258).
A state government with the consent of the government of India , confer administrative functions upon the latter, relating to a state subjects (Art 258 A)
Art 285 says that the property of the Union shall, save insofar as parliament may by law otherwise provide ,be exempt from all taxes imposed by a state or by any authority within a state. Similarly the property of a state is immune from union taxation. However, if a state enters into a trade or business it shall not be exempt from union taxation.
Art 350 A: to provide instruction in the mother tongue at the preliminary stages of education of children belonging to linguistic minority.
Art 351 : To promote the spread of the Hindi language
Art 335 : enjoins that the claim of SC and ST should be taken into consideration while making appointments .
Art 131 provides for the judicial determination of one class of disputes between states by vesting the Supreme Court with exclusive jurisdiction.
Art 262 provides for the adjudication of one class of such disputes by an extra-judicial tribunal .e.g. disputes regarding control of waters, any inter-state river or river valley
Art 263 provides for the prevention of inter-state disputes by investigation and recommendation by an administrative body.
The executive functions of the government of India can be entrusted to the state government with their consent (Art 258).
A state government with the consent of the government of India , confer administrative functions upon the latter, relating to a state subjects (Art 258 A)
Art 285 says that the property of the Union shall, save insofar as parliament may by law otherwise provide ,be exempt from all taxes imposed by a state or by any authority within a state. Similarly the property of a state is immune from union taxation. However, if a state enters into a trade or business it shall not be exempt from union taxation.
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