Representation of People’s Act 1950

Representation of People’s Act 1950

Introduction

• Part XV of the Constitution (Articles 324-329) deals with our country's electoral system. The Constitution empowers Parliament to make provisions for elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures. In order to exercise this power, the Parliament enacted laws such as the Representation of the People Act 1950 (RPA Act 1950), Representation of the People Act 1951 (RPA Act 1951), and Delimitation Commission Act of 1952.
• The Representation of the People Act of 1950 was enacted to provide for the distribution of seats in the House ofPeople, as well as members of Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Council Of states. The act is divided into 32 sections and 8 parts.

Definition

• The Act also sought to give the President the authority to delimit the various constituencies for the purpose of elections to fill seats in the House of People, Legislative Assemblies, and Legislative Councils of States, after consultation with the Election Commission.
• The Act also provided for the registration of electors for Parliamentary Constituencies, Assembly Constituencies, and Council Constituencies, as well as the qualifications and disqualifications for such registration.

Historical Background

• Following independence, there was a need for general elections to be held in order to elect a truly representative government based on universal adult suffrage.
• Article 325 of the constitution guarantees universal suffrage and states that no one shall be ineligible for inclusion in, or claim inclusion in, a special electoral roll on the basis of religion, race, caste, or sex.
• As a result, the ECI was established as an independent constitutional authority on November 26th, 1949.
• Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act of 1950, the Representation of the People Act of 1951, and the Delimitation Commission Act of 2002 to provide a legal framework for the conduct of elections.
• The first delimitation order was issued by the President in August 1951, in consultation with ECI and with Parliament's approval, for the purpose of the first general elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha.

What is Representation of the People Act, 1950, and what are its objectives?

The Representation of the People Act of 1950 (RPA 1950) is an act of the Indian Parliament, which was enacted to deal with the electoral system of the nation at the national and state level. 

The objectives of the RPA 1950 is to provide for the

• Seat allocation in the House of People, State Legislative Assemblies, and State Legislative Councils.
• Delimitation ofParliamentary, Assembly, and the Council constituencies.
• Election officials include chief electoral officers, district election officers, and electoral registration officers, among others.
• Electoral rolls for Parliamentary, Assembly, and Council constituencies.
• Procedure for filling seats in the Council of States by representatives from union territories.
• Local authorities for the purpose of elections to State Legislative Councils.
• Preventing civil courts from exercising their jurisdiction.

How are the seats allocated to the constituencies under RPA 1950?

The four schedules under the RPA 1950 contain provisions pertaining to the allocation of seats and the method of election for various posts.

• First Schedule: The allocation of seats to the States in the Lok Sabha and reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• Second Schedule: The total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State.
• Third Schedule: The allocation of seats in the Legislative Councils of the States.
• Fourth Schedule: Local authorities for purposes of elections to Legislative Councils. 
• Method of election: All the seats in the Lok Sabha shall be filled by persons chosen by direct election from parliamentary constituencies in the States.

What is Delimitation, and what are the provisions provided under RPA 1950?

• Delimitation means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body.
• The Delimitation Commission is a high-power body that takes up the function of the delimitation of the territorial constituencies in India.

○Its orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court.

○These orders come into force on a date to be specified by the President of India on this behalf.

○Mention the delimitation commissions so far.

• In India, such Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times – in 1952, 1963, 1973, and 2002.
• The primary function of the Delimitation commission is to redraw the boundaries of various assemblies and Lok Sabha constituencies based on the recent census. 
• The Election commission shall consolidate the delimitation orders of the delimitation commission into one single order, known as the delimitation of the parliamentary and assembly constituencies order.

Who is qualified to be a voter in India?

• A person shall be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll if he/she:

○ Is not a citizen of India.

○Is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court.

○Is disqualified from voting under the provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices and other offenses in connection with elections.

• Along with this, there are other provisions that provide for the disqualification of a voter as follows,

○No person is to be registered in more than one constituency.

○No person is to be registered more than once in any constituency.

• Conditions of registration for voters:

○Person is not less than 18 years of age on the qualifying date.

○He is ordinarily resident in a constituency.

What are the various electoral offices?

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)

Each state will have a CEO who will be nominated or appointed by the ECI in consultation with the state government to oversee the election work in the state/UTs.

In consultation with the state government, the ECI also nominates or designates a state officer as the District Election Officer (DEO).

The DEO works under the overall supervision and control of the CEO.

The major functions of the Chief electoral officer are:

• To supervise the preparation, revision, and correction of all electoral rolls in the State.
• Monitoring compliance with the Model Code of Conduct and submitting daily reports to the Election Commission.
• The CEO is responsible for ensuring that all candidates and political parties comply with the rules and regulations governing the election.
• It is his duty to review the law and order situation.
• To seal the Electronic Voting Machines and election papers under his directions.

District election officer:

• The Election Commission shall designate or nominate a district election officer who shall be an officer of Government.
• The Election Commission can also specify the area in respect of which each officer shall exercise jurisdiction.
• The primary function of the District election officer is to 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 district election officer shall also perform other functions as may be entrusted to him by the Election Commission and the Chief electoral officer.

Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)

• The ERO is in charge of preparing the electoral rolls for each constituency (parliamentary/assembly).
• An appeal against the ERO's order during the electoral roll update is now with the District Magistrate.

Returning Officer (RO)

• The RO is in charge of the election in a constituency and returns an elected candidate.
• In consultation with the state government, the ECI appoints or designates an officer of the government or a local authority as the RO.

Power to make rules

•  Power to make rules under the act is conferred to the Central government, which can exercise this power in consultation with the ECI.
•   The Civil Courts have also been barred to question the legality of any action of the ERO regarding revision of electoral rolls.

Voting Rights

In 2010, voting rights were extended to citizens of India living aboard.

Significance

• It was enacted to provide for the allocation of seats and the delimitation of constituencies, to establish voter qualifications, to determine the procedure for preparing electoral rolls, and to determine the method of filling seats.
• This Act has been amended numerous times since then, with the most recent change occurring in 2017.

Representation of the People Act of 1950 Criticism

• Due to a lack of independent staff and a separate secretariat for its own operations, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has difficulty carrying out its duties since it lacks the necessary authority. India has a legislative framework to enforce internal party democracy, not even the RPA act, in contrast to Germany and Portugal.
• Candidates fail to disclose their assets and liabilities even though the Supreme Court and the RPA demand them to. RPAs lack explicit laws and instructions on issues connected to the abuse of official apparatus that offers the ruling party an unwarranted electoral advantage. Under the RPA legislation, false affidavits or a significant suspension are not grounds for election violations.

Way Forward

• Election funding from the state could be implemented, as suggested by the 2nd ARC report.
• Giving ECI more authority, as well as the ability to deregister political parties.
• Parliament should pass legislation to decriminalize politics, as recommended by the Supreme Court.
• Include a conviction under Section 125A (filing a false affidavit) as a ground for disqualification under Section 8(1), as well as a sentence enhancement for false affidavits.
• To reduce the occurrence of false disclosures, the Law Commission recommended establishing an independent method of verifying the winning candidate's affidavit.
• Insertion of new section 58B of the RPA, as proposed by the Election Commission, to take action against political parties that bribe voters.