Representation of Peoples Act (RPA) - Material

RPA:
ü  India is a Democratic country
ü  Elections are conducted periodically
ü  Candidates contest in the elections
ü  There is a necessity to control and monitor the candidates


ü  Articles 324 to 329 of the Constitution deals with the electoral system in our country
ü  Constitution allows Parliament to make provisions in all matters relating to elections to the Parliament and State Legislatures.
ü  The laws like RPA Act 1950, RPA Act 1951 and Delimitation Commission Act of 1952 were enacted by the Parliament

RPA 1950 provides for
1.      Qualification of voters.
2.      Preparation of electoral rolls.
3.      Delimitation of constituencies.
4.      Allocation of seats in the Parliament and state legislatures.


Representation of Peoples Act 1951:

ü  This act was enacted before first general elections (1951-1952)
ü  It provides for the actual conduct of elections in India.
ü  The act also deals with details like qualification and disqualification of members of both houses of Parliament and the state legislatures
ü  Model of conduct


Highlights
1.      Actual conduct of elections.
2.      Administrative machinery for conducting elections.
3.      Poll.
4.      Election offences.
5.      Election disputes.
6.      By-elections.
7.      Registration of political parties.


The RPA act, since is pivotal in preventing criminals being elected as representatives, is always quoted by Supreme Court and High Court in various judgments.
ü  July 10, 2013: Supreme Court struck down Section 8(4) of the Representation of People’s (RP) Act
ü  July 2013: SC upholds Patna High Court judgment debarring persons in judicial and police custody from contesting elections (Section 62 (5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951).

ü  Convicted or not, rule applies to those in jail and police custody; not applicable to those out on bail. The Bench said: “We have heard counsel for the political parties and we do not find any infirmity in the findings of the High Court in the impugned common order that a person who has no right to vote by virtue of the provisions of Section 62 (5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 is not an elector and is therefore not qualified to contest the election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of a State.



The Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013


  • The Representation of the People (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 23, 2013. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on the same day. The Bill seeks to amend the Representation of People Act, 1951 (RPA, 1951). The two key changes brought about by the Bill are:
  • Even if a person is prohibited from voting due to being in police custody or in jail, as long as his name is entered on the electoral roll he shall not cease to be an elector. This implies that he can file nomination for an election.
  • The definition of “disqualified” in the Act has been amended. Currently, the definition of disqualified means disqualified for either being chosen as or being a Member of Parliament or a State Legislature. The amendment adds a ground to the definition that the disqualification has to be due to conviction for certain specified offences and can be on no other ground. Conviction for one of these offences would result in the person’s name being removed from the electoral roll and he would cease to be an elector.
  • This amendment Bill seeks to address the situation arising out of the Supreme Court’s judgment.
  • On July 10, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that a person, who is in jail or in police custody, cannot contest elections to legislative bodies. The RPA, 1951 states that any contestant to an election to legislative bodies has to be an “elector”, i.e., his name should be on the electoral roll and he is not subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned in Section 16 of the Representation of People Act, 1950. Among other things, that section disqualifies anyone from being on the electoral roll if he is disqualified from voting under the provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices and other offences in relation to elections. Another provision in the RPA, 1951 says that anyone in prison or on the lawful custody of the police (other than preventive detention) is not entitled to vote.
  • The Supreme Court concluded that a person in jail or police custody is not entitled to vote, and therefore, is not an elector, and thus, cannot contest elections.




A notable amendments is the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 1966 (47 of 1966), which abolished the election tribunals and transferred the election petitions to the High Courts and orders can be appealed to Supreme Court of India.

According to law, being public servants elected representatives, MLAs or MPs, cannot hold an office of profit under section 9 (A) of the Representation of People's Act and Article 191 (E) of the Constitution.
Certain Instances:
·         Former state cabinet minister, Jagir Kaur was booked under Section 123 of the act for bribing voters after the police seized 183 cases of liquor from the vehicles.
·         The Allahabad high court invalidated found Indira Gandhi, who was the then Prime Minister, guilty on the charge of misuse of government machinery for her election campaign.
·         Umlesh Yadav is the first politician to be disqualified by the Election Commission for a period of three years for suppression of her election expenses incurred when she was elected as an MLA to the Bisauli constituency in the UP Assembly elections in 2007.
·         Two UP MLAs, Bajrang Bahadur Singh and Uma Shankar Singh, were disqualified in January 2015 due to holding government contracts

ü  NOTA

ü  VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail)

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